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UNIX REVIEW

THE PUBLICATION FOR THE UNIX™ COMMUNITY January 1985 $3.95

THE EVOLUTION OF UNIX

ii <iii liil l mi iimiiii'il li ilt'i uiiium i Ulan iHli

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UNIX REVIEW

THE PUBLICATION FOR THE UNIX COMMUNITY

Volume 3,
Number 1
January 1985

DEPARTMENTS:

FEATURES:

Viewpoint

Devil's Advocate

by Stan Kelly-Bootle

The Human Factor

by Richard Morin

Industry Insider

by Mark Sobell

Rules of the Game

by Glenn Groenewold

C Advisor

by Bill Tuthill

/usr/lib

by Jim Joyce

The UNIX Glossary

by Steve Rosenthal

126

Calendar

132

Advertisers' Index

18 The Genesis Story

by August Mohr

Tales of how UNIX took shape as a
product.

28 Reflections on Software

Research

by Dennis M. Ritchie

A description of the environment that
nurtured the development of UNIX.

30 A Berkeley Odyssey

by Marshall Kirk McKusick

The names and events shaping 10

THE EVOLUTION OF UNIX

42 Fear and Loathing on the 52
UNIX Trail

by Doug Merritt

Confessions of a Berkeley system mole.

The Business Evolution of
the UNIX System

by Otis Wilson

The details of how AT&T organiza¬
tional changes made UNIX commercial¬
ly available.

The Future of the
Workstation

by Richard Morin

Impressions of what evolution hath
wrought.

Interview with Victor
Vyssotsky

by Ned Peirce

The manager of AT&T's Multics project
remembers the way it was.

UNIX REVIEW {ISSN 0742:3136} is published monthly by REVIEW Publications Co. It is a publication dedicated exclusively to the needs of the UNIX community.
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may be edited for the purpose of clarity or space, Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of UNIX REVIEW. Entire contents copyright •
1984. All rights reserved and nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission from UNIX REVIEW
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UNIX is the trademark of Bell Laboratories, Inc. UNIX REVIEW is not affiliated with Bell Laboratories.

Application to mail at second class postage rate is pending at Renton, Washington 98055.

PUBLISHER:

Pamela J. McKee

EDITOR:

Mark Compton

ASSISTANT EDITOR:

David Chandler

ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

Ken Roberts, Scott Robin
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR:

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EDITORIAL ADVISORS:

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EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD:

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Graphics, Inc.

Larry Crume, Director, AT&T UNIX Systems
Far East

Ted Dolotta, Senior Vice President of
Technology, Interactive Systems Corporation
Gene Dronek, Director of Software, Aim
Technology

George Goble, Systems Engineer, Purdue
University

Bill Joy, Vice President of Research and
Development, Sun Microsystems
John Mashey, Software Engineering Manager,
Convergent Technologies
Robert Mitze, Department Head, UNIX Com¬
puting System Development, AT&T Bell Labs
Deborah Scherrer, Computer Scientist, Mt. Xinu
Jeff Schriebman, President, UniSoft Systems
Otis Wilson, Manager, Software Sales and
Marketing, AT&T Technology Systems
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Technology

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SOFTWARE REVIEW BOARD:

Ken Arnold, Consultant, UC Berkeley
Jordan Mattson, Programmer, UC Santa Cruz
Kirk McKusick, Research Computer Scientist,

UC Berkeley

Doug Merritt, Technical Staff, International
Technical Seminars, Inc.

Mark G. Sobell, Consultant
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR:

Ned Peirce, Systems Analyst, Bell Laboratories

4 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

VIEWPOINT

Learning from history

Last month’s issue started with
an article titled “UNIX for the Peo¬
ple”. In that article, author Gig
Graham explained the economic
reasons for making the system more
accessible to a wider range of con¬
sumers. This month, our focus shifts
to UNIX by the people—as in UNIX
demanded by the people.

If ever there was a grassroots
product, UNIX is it. No high-priced
market study or slick sales cam¬
paign played a role in bringing UNIX
to the market position it enjoys to¬
day. From the start, UNIX was
released to ever widening circles of
users only because those users
demanded it.

The reasons for that demand
have been remarkably consistent.
Users want a well-mannered system
that obligingly steps aside after
preparing the way for the task at
hand. UNIX succeeds simply
because it performs this role. Those
who don’t care to do systems pro¬
gramming needn’t-—they can forget
about the operating system and con¬
centrate on either building or using
applications. Those who consider
themselves hackers can be selective
about the portions of the system
they work on since UNIX is both
modular and flexible; reworking a
utility thus does not entail rethink¬
ing the entire operating system.

In evaluating the success of
UNIX, though, it is not enough
simply to look at what UNIX is. One
must also trace how it evolved—
both as a tool and a product—in
order to understand why UNIX is
what it is. History yields valuable
lessons for vendor and end user
alike. For the vendor, trends of the
past provide points against which
future probabilities can be plotted.
As for the end user, understanding
why UNIX is the way it is may be a
hedge against much gnashing of the
teeth and rending of the terminal.

To say that we have sought out
authorities to tell this UNIX tale
would be a gross understatement.
August Mohr, the former editor of
CommUNIXations, leads off with an
article detailing how UNIX spread
within the Bell System. He draws
heavily on interviews with Berkley
Tague, the head of UNIX support ef¬
forts (USG) in the early years, and

Rudd Canaday, who managed the
Programmers’ Workbench project.

As a counterpoint to this ac¬
count of how UNIX took shape as a
product, a reprint of Dennis Rit¬
chie’s Turing Award Lecture follows
with a description of how the system
initially evolved as a research tool.

The official story of the other
major strain of UNIX, Berkeley
UNIX, is told by the man responsi¬
ble for implementing its file struc¬
ture, Kirk McKusick. Bob Fabry, Bill
Joy, Sam Leffler, and Eric Allman
are among the other key partici¬
pants who made contributions to
the article.

Doug Merritt, Bob Toxen, and
Ken Arnold offer a somewhat dif¬
ferent view of Berkeley UNIX in an
attached piece. Call it a report on
Gonzo programming.

The organizational changes
within AT&T that made it possible
for UNIX to be released to the world
at large are detailed in an article by
Otis Wilson titled “The Business
Evolution of the UNIX System.” Otis
knows whereof he speaks—as
manager of AT&T’s software mar¬
keting and sales arm, he designed
the UNIX licensing program.

Rich Morin pulls us into the pre¬
sent and then slings us into the
future with an account that tells
what to expect in the workstation of
tomorrow. Significant contributions
to the article were made by Dr. Greg
Chesson, Gene Dronek, Dr. James
Gosling, and Ron Gremban.

The evolution theme concludes
with an interview featuring Victor
Vyssotsky, currently the Executive
Director of Research in the Informa¬
tion Systems Division of AT&T Bell
Labs and formerly the head of the
Labs’ Multics project. Ned Peirce, a
Contributing Editor for UNIX
REVIEW, delivered the questions.

Acknowledgements would not
be complete, though, without a tip
of the hat to Dennis Ritchie and Ken
Arnold for the assistance they of¬
fered by reviewing selected articles.
The net result, I hope, is an issue
you will not only want to read
through carefully, but retain long
after it has grown dogeared and
rumpled.

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DEVILS
iVOCATE

Enough mollycoddling!

by Stan Kelly-Bootle

While discussing “System
Friendly Users” in the November
issue, Jim Joyce casually threat¬
ened to emasculate the very soul
of UNIX! (The metaphysics of soul-
gender are beyond the immediate
scope of this column.) Suffice it to
say that Cicero, Livy, and that
crowd were careful to distinguish
animus (masculine) from anima
(feminine). Joyce suggested that
we take all the macho fun out of:

$ rm

by adding:

alias rm rm -i

to the .login or .cshrc files.

You will not need me or Don
Norman to tell you that rm * is an
awesome weapon, worth three
ICBMs at any bargaining table,
and hardly to be recommended as
a casual demonstration of the
power of the wild-card symbol, .

But, haven’t we all, at one
time or another, developed the ir-
restible urge to kill all our files, or
those of a colleague? I know
have. And as MacBeth (or was it

Mrs. MacBeth?) so rightly said, IF

’twere done when ’twere done,
’twere best ’twere done quickly
ENDIF.” (MacBeth and Mrs.
MacBeth are probably registere
trademarks of Apple Computer
Inc ) The last thing we want, alter
such a courageous and diskspace¬
saving decision, is an endless
stream of dumb Y/N questions.

Hardcore UNIX users know

8 UNIX REVfEW JANUARY 1985

that these are really (Y* or y*}/
not{Y* or y*} questions, and feel
honor-bound to avoid nerdish
responses like “Y” or “N”. It is
essential to know enough words
beginning with "Y” or “y” (or not,
as the mood dictates) so that your
responses: a) avoid repetition, and
b) are amusingly appropriate to
the filename being erased or
reprieved. For example.

$ rm -i
bible: yea
element: ytterbium
cash: holy —holy—holy
smegma: YUK

elegantly kills three of the four
files

Mollycoddling menu-man¬
agers like to inject tear-jerking
pleas such as:

Have you consulted the OWNER of
these files? Y/N?

Are you really sure you want to
end it all? Y/N?

Have you considered ALL the
consequences? Y/N?
followed, eventually, by visits
from neighbors, social workers,
priests looking like Spencer Tracy
or Barry Fitzgerald, and your sick
mother flown in all the way from
Wexford.

“So it’s after killing off all yer
foiles now, is it, they tell me?”

- “Just ould rubbish from the
past, Ma. Shameful memories
we’ll be well rid of, and no
mistake. And besoids, they re
mostly Jack Murphy’s foiles, and
him struttin’ and hierarchin
about like he owned the whole
patch, roots an all.

When the screen finally hits

you with:

OK - this is IT, last chance - con-
firm DELETE ALL FILES. Y/N?
and when, worn out and terrified,
you enter “N”, the system’s
response is a nauseating, folksy.
Well now, that WAS a pretty
CLOSE CALL there, uh? Y/N?

UNIX panders enough already
to the indecisive and chicken-
hearted. The rmdir command, for
example, will only remove empty
directories. How mamby-pamby
can you get? My solution is:

alias rm rm -rf

and zap, zap-as they are calling
your mother’s flight at Shannon

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IS DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

International, and as Jack Murphy
complacently sips his coffee next
door, another Royal Library of
Alexandria is flagged dead
without question and without the
waste of a single pagan match.

It has not escaped our atten¬
tion that Jim Joyce’s “System
Friendly Users” essay reveals
elements of parody beyond those
typically found in his /usr/lib offer¬
ings, and that even from a pagina-
tional point of view he has
migrated somewhat towards the
Devils Advocate's column. Our
millions of hidden detractors
could hardly call us paranoiac, but
we do detect here some encroach¬
ment on our territory, the quiche-
loving Oligarchy of Satira (pop¬
ulation 1). Apparently our flabby
indolence, love of peace, and low
demographic profile have been
taken as signs of weakness. But
while we may lack numbers, we
have a terrifying national unity of
purpose when tickled the wrong
way.

The Satirical State is taking
immediate and vigorous action
to protect its borders. By an over¬
whelming majority our Prae-
sidium has approved total
mobilization, quiche-rationing,
the purchase of MIG fighters, and
the promulgation of a Sharply
Written Reprimand.

It was further decreed that
this column should mount a

counter-attack on Joyce’s /usr/lib
preserve by pre-reviewing an un¬
published book on UNIX.

UNIX System XIV Rev 3.26
for Beginners

We will not mince our words
about UNIX System XIV Rev 3.26
for Beginners (Pemmican Press,
1997, $749.95). Apart from the

Haven't we all, at
one time or
another, developed
the irrestible urge
to kill all our files,
or those of a
colleague?

low price, this is a truly terrible
book by Jack Murphy, who
thoughout seems to confuse UNIX
System XIV Rev 3.26 with a pre-
AT&T/IBM-merger version, UNIX
System XII Rev 9.81. We say
seems because the ghastly Super-
MacWrite typesetting it employs
on coarse oatmeal recycled paper

makes the whole mess damned
near illegible. We spotted three
typos on the spine alone, hardly a
reassuring start for a book claim¬
ing to instill good programming
habits in the beginner.

The few command sequence
examples we did manage to
decipher and enter caused a wide
spectrum of crashes and catas¬
trophes. Suffice it to say readers
are advised to have plenty of
backup disks and 30 amp fuses
handy.

The maddeningly slow pace of
the book is indicated by the fact
that Murphy does not cover login
until page 1207, at the end of
Chapter 9. This could be a bless¬
ing in disguise, since it will
postpone the many disasters in
store for any innocent system and
would-be user exposed to this
dangerous volume.

Some historical background is
undoubtedly useful for UNIX
students, but one must question
the need for a whole chapter on
Ken Thompson’s genealogy, 30
pages of PDP-7 timing charts, and
the complete text of Pope Pius
XIII’s speech at the Beatification of
Dennis Ritchie.

It is certainly false economy
these days for the beginner to ex¬
pect a decent UNIX book under
the $1000 mark. Our recommend¬
ed best buy is still Kernighan &
Pike’s The UNIX Programming
Environment (Prentice-Hall), now
in its 27th edition and still a steal
at $1299.95.

Murphy dedicated his book to
my sick mother — nice try there,
Jack — but “no cigar”.

Stan Kelly-Bootle has diluted
his computer career by writing con¬
temptuous folk songs for Judy Col¬
lins (“In My Life , ” Elektra K42009),
The Dubliners and others. He is cur¬
rently writing , with Bob Fowler ,
“The 6800 Primer ” for the Waite
Group i, to be published by Howard
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10 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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THE HUMAN
FACTOR

On the inevitability of UNIX

by Richard Morin

UNIX(tm) has been chosen
as the operating system for
our most advanced super¬
computer, the CRAY-2.

Cray Research, Inc. adver¬
tisement Computerworld
(p. 117, July 16, 1984)

One often hears UNIX
devotees heralding the imminent
acceptance of UNIX as the stan¬
dard operating system. Some even
buy large amounts of advertising
space to do so. The question they
generally raise is when, rather
than whether or even how .

This inevitability is a bit
suspect, however. The proponents
of other operating systems make
similar claims, and we don’t
believe them. Why should we
therefore consider UNIX to be
chosen by the gods, let alone the
entire future computer market?

Is UNIX likely to take over
even a significant part of the
market in the near future? It may
in fact take over several markets,
but this column will concentrate
on the most probable one.

For the purpose of this dis¬
cussion, let’s ignore the use of
UNIX as a basis for special pur¬
pose applications systems. These
systems are built upon UNIX, but
tend to hide it to such a degree
that it is all but invisible to the
user. Let’s instead concentrate on
the use of UNIX in all its unvar¬
nished glory.

Next, let’s forget high volume
commercial data processors.
UNIX is simply not well adapted
to their needs. Further, the
attempt to so adapt it is likely to
produce a result unrecognizable
as UNIX. In any case, the well
known (and well justified) con¬
servatism of commercial users will
prevent them from immediately
accepting UNIX as a standard.

UNIX does, however, have a
good chance of taking over the
scientific marketplace within the
next few years. Scientists are less
conservative than the commercial
crowd and their need for UNIX is
far greater. They won’t even mind
if UNIX is only a cult operating
system; IBM systems haven’t
served their needs for years.

The scientific community is
already quite interested in UNIX,
and this may soon turn into accep¬
tance. The reasons for this are the

adaptability, communications
capabilities, flexibility, per¬
formance and portability of UNIX
systems. Let’s examine these to
see why each is of particular
importance to scientists.

ADAPTABILITY

Scientists have a penchant for
attaching weird devices to
computers. Sometimes they even
attach other computers. Most
operating systems are significant¬
ly hostile to this sort of thing, if
they allow it at all.

UNIX, on the other hand, is
tolerant — even helpful. Do you
need real time response? Extra
processors? Exotic devices? Hack
over here, fudge over there, and
you have it.

The UC Berkeley Space
Science Lab has a Sun work¬
station that has been expanded to
over 20 backplane slots. Four
additional single-board computers
have been added, along with a raft
of device controllers. A bit of hard¬
ware, a bit of software, and it’s
done.

A more prosaic example is the
UNIX output filter capability. This
allows a UNIX user to insert a pro¬
gram between the line printer
spooler and the printer driver.
Canta Forda Computer Lab uses
this to let its dot matrix printer do
a variety of tricks, including bit
image graphics.

Finally, note that the adapt-

12 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

The Tartan C Compiler
for VAX/UNIX.

It’s better than free.

Tartan’s C out-performs the portable C compiler you get free with UNIX™.
With Tartan C, you’ll see: Faster execution speed, smaller-size object code,
unsurpassed error diagnostics, and complete plug-compatibility with port¬
able C. Tartan C Compilers are part of a new generation of compilers that
improve application performance and make programmers more productive.

Tartan C Benchmarks

Matrix Mult Puzzle Quick Sort Sieve

Standard benchmark tests' compare Tartan C (in red)
and Portable C compiler object code performance (meas¬
ured in seconds) for various computational profiles.

Tartan C Error Messages

C Program with Syntax Errors:

1 bubble (a) infc aflODIj {int trnp, last, i-,

2 for <last=100; last >= 2; last--)

3 {for (i=l; 1 <= (last-1; i++)

4 if (a[i] > ali+lj)

5 {tmp=a[i] afi)=afi+lj;

6 a[i+H=tep;};

7 >

a >

Portable C Compiler Error Messages:

"bubble.c", line 3: syntax error
’’bubble. c M , line 3: syntax error
"bubble.c”, line 8: syntax error

Tartan C accurately pinpoints errors and recovers:

21 for (last=100; last 5** 2; last—)

3 j {for (i«l; i (last-1; i++>

*** 1 Error 101: Parse error; token ”)" inserted.

41 if (afi) > a[i+l])

51 {tmp=afi] a[i}«a{i+l);

*** i Error 101: Parse error; token
6| ali+l]~tnp;>;

V_._

inserted.

_ J

*A complete report on these and other benchmarks is available on request.

UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories

VAX is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.

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Uthe human factor

ability of UNIX is a natural
consequence of its extreme
modularity. The entire operating
system is constructed of loosely
connected pieces of code. Any
piece may be removed and
modified when necessary.

Although Kirk McKusick of
UC Berkeley found replacing the
entire file system of 4.2 BSD to be
a tricky problem, it was not
impossible. The rest of us may
confine ourselves to hacking a few
shell scripts and such, but the
principle remains the same. The
adaptability of UNIX is built into
its very structure, a claim that
very few operating systems can
make.

COMMUNICATIONS

UNIX has a number of
communications capabilities that
could be of great use to scientists.
The 4.2 BSD TCP/IP implementa¬
tion provides a multivendor local
area networking capability that
does not depend on any particular
physical network. A layered archi¬
tecture, it can use whatever media
happens to be available.

Adding the remote procedure
call mechanism proposed by Sun
Microsystems, this can become a
full distributed file system.
Scientists need workstations, file
servers, number crunchers and a
variety of other devices. The
proposed protocol allows all of
these to act as if they were
integrated into a single monolithic
computer system.

In UUCP, UNIX provides the
ability to set up ad hoc networks
providing electronic mail over vast
distances. Both memos and
documents may be sent quickly
and economically in this manner.
The cost and inconvenience of get¬
ting physical copies of scientific
reprints makes the latter use very
attractive.

The Usenet message passing
system is an existing example of
such a network. Usenet members

send mail across the country and
even into other countries. A
hodge-podge of modems, compu¬
ters and communications lines are
used, but the user needn’t care.
The messages get through (in
general), and there are no stamps
to lick.

FLEXIBILITY

Commercial users tend to
have reasonably stable data pro¬
cessing needs. Scientific users do
not, since they never know what

One often hears
UNIX devotees
heralding the
imminent

acceptance of UNIX
as the standard
operating system.

problem they’ll be trying to
solve next. Scientists thus de¬
mand more flexibility from their
computer systems than do com¬
mercial users.

UNIX provides, if nothing
else, an extraordinary degree of
flexibility. It was designed with
the idea that a user should be
allowed to do anything and every¬
thing. Programs plug into other
programs with great abandon,
and existing utilities relieve much
of the burden of development
tasks.

Scientists often recognize the
UNIX pipe and filter capability as
a kind of composition of functions.
Computer specialists may instead
regard it as a primitive data flow

language. In any case, it is ideally
suited for use by scientists.

Scientists have an almost in¬
exhaustible appetite for complex
mathematical analysis routines.
One can easily predict the produc¬
tion of a raft of Fourier transform
filters, linear algebra utilities,
continuous simulation systems,
and such. With such utilities
available as UNIX-style filters,
scientists will be able to profitably
use ever increasing amounts of
computer power.

PERFORMANCE

Scientists are notoriously
profligate users of CPU cycles. Let
us disregard, for the moment, the
plasma physicists, meteorologists
and such. Other scientists can
easily bring a VAX to its knees by
simply doing routine data analysis
and display.

UNIX offers a range of solu¬
tions to this dilemma. For some
scientists, a terminal attached
to a shared computer is sufficient.
For others, a garden variety UNIX
workstation will provide the
needed power. Some will need an
added floating point processor or
vector arithmetic board.

Finally, the real number
crunching crowd will need still
more power, up to and exceeding
that available from a CRAY-2.
In all cases, however, UNIX allows
the needed hardware to be pur¬
chased and used. Multivendor net¬
working even allows scientists to
comfortably and invisibly share
special purpose resources.

It is unreasonable to expect
any vendor to meet the needs of
all possible customers. IBM has
stopped trying to do this, and
nobody else even tried. No single
vendor can begin to handle the
range of needs of the scientific
community.

Even a single scientist can
easily outstrip the capabilities
of a single vendor. A typical ap¬
plication might include massive

14 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

MODULAR.

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integrated system. The Handle product
series is a powerful set of software tools
designed for today's multi-user office
environment. Handle integrated soft¬
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modules in the series as well as with
outside applications and databases.
Handle’s open architecture is built
on a database foundation and is
available to outside developers.

Handle Office Automation Software
Series product modules include:

• Handle Writer/Spell™. Word processing
with automatic spelling correction and
verification.

• Handle Calc™. Virtual spreadsheet
with up to 32,000 rows and columns.

• Handle Graphics™. Advanced business
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• Handle List™. List processing,
management, and forms.

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P THE HUMAN FACTOR

number crunching, real time data
acquisition, and color graphics
output. Each of these functions
demands radically different
hardware.

A mixed network approach
handles this by allowing a variety
of computer systems, each optim¬
ized to a particular function, to
work together. This optimization
is brought about by cheap and
powerful microprocessors and
special purpose chips. It provides
an economical solution to an
otherwise intractable problem.

PORTABILITY

The issue of portability is
important to all computer users
since all hardware becomes obso¬
lete in time. Another aspect of
portability, of course, allows the
use of software across a mixed

network as described above.
Scientists are particularly con¬
cerned, however, because they
tend to swap software freely.

Commercial users don’t often
call up other users to get a new
accounting routine. Scientists, on
the other hand, are always trading
software. The popularity of For¬
tran among scientists is largely
due to its portability and
modularity, which promote this
interchange.

A Fortran application is often
constructed largely out of calls to
library functions and subroutines.
These may have been written 15
years before for an entirely dif¬
ferent computer and application.
The scientist doesn’t care, as long
as the applications still function
properly.

All too often, however, they do

not. Differences in system calls,
I/O standards, and other trivia
conspire to “break” routines on
new machines. The adoption of
UNIX, by providing standard in¬
terfaces for a diverse range of
hardware, largely solves this
problem.

Even if routines work indi¬
vidually, they may not function
well together. Most operating
systems have no convenient way
of pushing data through sequen¬
ces of programs. UNIX does, of
course, and it even has a folklore
which encourages programming
for this manner of use.

THE GESTALT

Scientific institutions will not
convert to UNIX instantaneously.
Instead, they will build up to full
scale use in an incremental man¬
ner, often project-by-project. In
many scientific institutions, each
project selects and purchases its
own computer systems.

These systems will be
installed, used, expanded,
networked and modified. The dif¬
ferent characteristics discussed
above will be brought into play.
Systems which lack any critical
capability will be at a disadvan¬
tage, and a form of natural se¬
lection will take place.

Scientific projects are increas-
ingly dependent on the effec¬
tiveness of their computer sup¬
port. Scientists take careful note of
the comparative utility of systems
they see being used. UNIX, with
its powerful mix of capabilities, is
thus certain to win an ever in¬
creasing share of the scientific
marketplace.

Richard Morin is an indepen¬
dent computer consultant specializ¬
ing in the design, development and
documentation of software for
engineering, scientific and operating
systems applications . He operates
the Canta Forda Computer Lab in
Walnut Creek, CA. ■

WHEN SERIOUS PROGRAMMING
IS YOUR BUSINESS...

The Concurrent Euclid language
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reliability, and maintainability

Compilers running on UNIX/VAX,
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MC6809, NS32000, 8086/8088
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Circle No. 7 on Inquiry Card

16 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

COHERENT” IS SUPERIOR TO UNIX*
AND IT’S AVAILABLE TODAY
ON THE IBM PC.

Mark Williams Company hasn’t just taken a mini-computer
operating system, like UNIX, and ported it to the PC. We
wrote COHERENT ourselves. We were able to bring UNIX
capability to the PC with the PC in mind, making it the most
efficient personal computer work station available at an
unbelievable price.

For the first time you get a multi-user, multitasking operating
system on your IBM PC. Because COHERENT is UNIX-
compatible, UNIX software will run on the PC under
COHERENT.

The software system includes a C-compiler and over 100 utili¬
ties, all for $500. Similar environments cost thousands more.

COHERENT on the IBM PC requires a hard disk and 256K
memory. It’s available on the IBM XT, and Tecmar, Davong
and Corvus hard disks.

Available now. For additional information, call or write,

Mark Williams Company

1430 West Wrightwood, Chicago, Illinois 60614

312/472-6659

Mark

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Company

COHERENT is a trademark of Mark Williams Company.
*UNIX is as trademark of Bell Laboratories.

Circle No. 8 on Inquiry Card

the idea that Bell Laboratories and Western E-lertrie
had engaged in a masterful piece of
strategy by first releasing UNIX tb universities and
then feter releasing it to" the rommerna] world. How
clever, I thought, to get universities involved iiitfte
development Of the system and get a whole crop of
UNIX experts trained in the process: But after talk¬
ing to some of the people involved. I havtn-e^Tsed
my opinion. Bell, it seems. was dragged kicking and
scrcamin^ itHo providing UNIX to the world.

his is, so to speak, a history of how UNIX evolv¬
ed as a product: notahe ‘'ofiicral" history of who
was responsible for what |ea lures, and what

mVvhxl i- itTlWiii iTPVa«£.'L'oa ’ K.11 f 4 'll fX

year « BjB Mossed, hut'they

^fan and

§Sfil| Most of the

^readers' of this rhagazine are familiar with the system
itself, so I don’t want togointo great detail[ about how
the system^ot lo be what it is interualfwgbut rather
l. . how it gptjohe alid 1. ||

Three yenrs ago. I was one of many espousing

Musi ration &y kHly ftarirs

GENESIS STORY

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE
WAS MULTICS

Multics, in some ways UNIX’s
predecessor, was a huge project, a
combined effort of three of the
largest computing centers of the
day. All three principles — Bell,
GE, and MIT, had already done
operating systems, even time-
shared systems, before, and
following Fred Brooks’ Second
System Syndrome , it was felt
Multics was going to solve all the
problems of its predecessors.
Ultimately, the project proved to
be too late and Bell dropped out,
leaving Ken Thompson, Dennis
Ritchie, and Rudd Canaday with¬
out a timeshared system to play
with.

So they set about building an
operating system of their own.

So until this point, time¬
sharing systems had only been
developed for big machines
costing hundreds of thousands
of dollars. It was unlikely that
Computer Research was going to
get another investment of that sort
out of Bell so soon after Multics.
In any event, Thompson, Ritchie,
and Canaday weren’t particularly
interested in working on another
large scale project, so they set
their sights on obtaining a
minicomputer on which to build a
timesharing system they could
use as a program development en¬
vironment. They wanted the kind
of flexibility and power they had
worked toward in Multics, without
incurring the expensive rings of
protection and interlocks.

The project was short on
computing power, though. With
only a PDP-7 to work on, the
researchers yearned for another
machine — preferably a VAX
11/20. To get the necessary funds
for a new machine, though, it was
clear they would first need to find
an application.

Fortunately, the Bell Labs’
Legal Department — which was
close at hand to Thompson and

20 UWIX REVIEW JANUARY 1065

Ritchie’s Murray Hill office — was
looking for a word processing
system at about this time. A
paper-tape system for an old
Teletype machine was under
consideration.

With a bit of salesmanship,
Thompson and Ritchie got the
legal team interested in a UNIX-
supported system. It proved to be

The combination of
program

development and
word processing
was to have
serendipitous
effects.

a momentous deal. The UNIX proj¬
ect got the machine it needed and
the legal department got the word
processing system it wanted —
along with some rather impressive
local support.

A number of important bar¬
riers thus were crashed. First, the
business side of Bell Labs, general¬
ly held at arm’s length by the peo¬
ple in Research, got a healthy dose
of Research assistance. More im¬
portantly for UNIX users, Thomp¬
son and Ritchie got their first live
customer. UNIX word processing
suddenly had to be usable by
secretarial staff as well as by pro¬
gramming staff. The changes
made to accomplish this transi¬
tion were to have serendipitous
effects as UNIX evolved.

Richard Haight, now AT&T
Bell Labs Supervisor of Video
Systems Software (a UNIX appli¬

cation), had his first exposure to
UNIX at about this time. As he
remembers it, “I came across Ken
Thompson by accident and wanted
to do some software development
on a PDP-11. He said he had a
machine I could use but that it
didn’t run on a DEC operating
system. I had lots of exposure to
timesharing systems and it was
pretty obvious that this was
superior in many ways.

“It was uphill in the begin¬
ning. The fact that it was
homegrown in the Labs didn’t cut
anything with the people that I
was working with at that time.
They went and visited Ken and
Dennis in their sixth-floor attic at
Murray Hill and all they saw was
hardware laying all over the floor
and a bunch of guys in T-shirts
and sneakers. It wasn’t the sort of
place that would warm the heart
of a manager who had been
brought up in a traditional data
processing environment. It really
was the ‘two good guys in a
garage’ kind of syndrome except
that they happened to be in an
attic.

“That first time I met Ken
Thompson, he had a small book¬
shelf, maybe 2 1/2 feet long, above
an old Teletype Model 37 terminal.
On the shelf were hardware
manuals from Digital Equipment
for the PDP-11, occupying maybe
five inches, and the rest of the
shelf was nothing but chess
books. I think Thompson will tell
you himself that he developed
UNIX as a good place to develop
chess programs. It turns out that
it’s everybody else’s idea of where
and how to develop programs
too.”

Haight has had many years of
experience in the Bell Labs
environment. Before moving to
his current post, he served as
part of the UNIX Support group
and the PWB (Programmer’s
Workbench) development group.
He believes that the environment

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GENESIS STORY

of the Labs was a major factor in
the creation of UNIX.

“There’s a small fraction of
people who just go crazy over
computers,” he explained. We
hire a bunch of them and they
remain workaholics for several
years after coming in. Eventually
they get a house and a mortgage
and they get married and have
kids and settle down to be normal
human beings, but it’s wonderful
to hire these people because you
get two or three people’s work out
of them for several years. Those
are the kind of people that give
you things like UNIX.”

AN INFLUENTIAL FEATURE:
PIPES

Dick Haight is one of the
people who became hooked on
UNIX at the very beginning, and
even yet is an outspoken pro¬
ponent of its value and power —
although he will tell you he is still
waiting for something better to
come along. “There’s a lot of com¬
plaint about UNIX being terse and
for experts only,” he said. “I’ve
seen that blamed on the pipe
mechanism. If terseness is the
price for having pipes. I’ll take it
any day.”

As one of the new system’s
first users, Haight got to follow
many of the changes. “I happened
to have been visiting the research
crew the day they implemented
pipes,” he recalled. It was clear to
everyone, practically minutes
after the system came up with
pipes working, that it was a
wonderful thing. Nobody would
ever go back and give that up if
they could help it.”

Haight believes that the pipe
facility has had a major effect on
the evolution of UNIX. Because of
the shell and the piping facility,
programs running under UNIX
can be conversational without be¬
ing explicitly programmed that
way. This is because piping adds
to the shell’s ability to accomplish

this purpose for the system as a
whole.

Doug Mcllroy is usually credi¬
ted with the idea of adding pipes,
although the idea may have been
around since Multics. Haight
believes there may have been yet
another reason for implementing
them. The original UNIX had a file
size limitation of 64K and, accord¬
ing to Haight, “one of the people
there in research was constantly
blowing that size restriction
in an intermediate pass of the
Assembler.” Between Mcllroy’s
lobbying for the idea and this
other problem with file size,
Thompson and Ritchie were final¬
ly convinced to implement pipes.

MOVING INTO THE COMPANY

Independent of what was hap¬
pening in the research area, Bell
was starting to perceive the need

"Naturally I knew
that once they got
on UNIX they
wouldn't be able to
get off. It's just like
drugs.''

for minicomputer support for its
telephone operations. It needed
Operations Systems, not Oper¬
ating Systems. With the numbers
of systems under consideration,
the possibility of being tied to a
single vendor, or having each site
tied to a different vendor, induced
a kind of paranoia. There just had
to be another way.

The groups responsible for
developing operations systems
had many people from hardware

and applications software back¬
grounds who were considering
writing their own operating
system — their first — when
Berkley Tague, now head of Bell
Labs’ Computing Technology
Department, suggested they use
UNIX to get started.

“I observed that people were
starting to put these minis out in
the operating company, and saw
that it was an area of both oppor¬
tunity and potential problems,”
Tague remembered. “I found that
some of the people in development
had never built an operating
system for any computer before;
many of them had very little soft¬
ware background. They were
coming out of hardware develop¬
ment and telephone technology
backgrounds, and yet were starting
to build their own operating
systems. Having been through
that phase of the business myself,
it seemed silly to go through it
another hundred times, so I
started pushing the UNIX
operating system into these pro¬
jects.”

Tague’s backing of UNIX, as
a development system for opera¬
tions, was not just a personal
preference. “I had every con¬
fidence in the people who built it
because I’d worked with them on
Multics,” he explained. “With
their experience and training, I
figured they could build a much
better operating system than
somebody who’s building one for
the first time, no matter how
smart that person is.”

SUPPORT?

UNIX had been running long
enough in research by that time
that Tague knew that the system
the operations group would get
would serve as a very good start¬
ing point. Unfortunately, there
was no vendor support for it.

The argument Tague made
for UNIX was: if the operations
people were going to build their

22 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

Only Microware's OS-9
Operating System Covers
the Entire 68000 Spectrum

MICROWARE’S OS-9

UNIX

ROM-BASED

FLOPPY-DISK BASED

DISK-BASED

SMALL-SCALE

LARGE-SCALE

CONTROL

PERSONAL

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TIMESHARING

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COMPUTERS

SYSTEMS

HAND-HELD HARDWARE/SOFTWARE SINGLE USER MEDIUM-SCALE

COMPUTERS DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS MULTI-TASKING SYSTEMS TIMESHARING SYSTEMS

SMALL SYSTEMS

LARGE SYSTEMS

Is complicated software and expensive hardware
keeping you back from Unix? Look into OS-9, the
operating system from Microware that gives 68000 systems
a Unix-style environment with much less overhead and
complexity.

OS-9 is versatile, inexpensive, and delivers outstanding
performance on any size system. The OS-9 executive is
much smaller and far more ef¬
ficient than Unix because it's
written in fast, compact as¬
sembly language, making it
ideal for critical real-time ap¬
plications. OS-9 can run on
a broad range of 8 to 32 bit
systems based on the 68000
or 6809 family MPUs from
ROM-based industrial con¬
trollers up to large multiuser
systems.

OS-9'S OUTSTANDING
C COMPILER IS
YOUR BRIDGE TO UNIX

Microware's C compiler tech¬
nology is another OS-9 advantage. The compiler produces
extremely fast, compact, and ROMable code. You can easily
develop and port system or application software back and
forth to standard Unix systems. Cross-compiler versions for

VAX and PDP-11 make coordinated Unix/OS-9 software
development a pleasure.

SUPPORT FOR MODULAR SOFTWARE
- AN OS-9 EXCLUSIVE

Comprehensive support for modular software puts OS-9
a generation ahead of other operating systems. It multiplies
programmer productivity and memory efficiency. Applica¬
tion software can be built
from individually testable
software modules including
standard "library" modules.
The modular structure lets
you customize and recon¬
figure OS-9 for specific hard¬
ware easily and quickly.

A SYSTEM WITH
A PROVEN
TRACK RECORD

Once an underground
classic, OS-9 is now a solid
hit. Since 1980 OS-9 has
been ported to over a hun¬
dred 6809 and 68000
systems under license to some of the biggest names in the
business. OS-9 has been imbedded in numerous consumer,
industrial, and OEM products, and is supported by many
independent software suppliers.

Key OS-9 Features At A Glance

• Compact (16K) ROMable executive written in assembly
language

• User "shell’' and complete utility set written in C

• C-source code level compatibility with Unix

• Full Multitasking/multiuser capabilities

• Modular design - extremely easy to adapt, modify, or
expand

• Unix-type tree structured file system

• Rugged “crash-proof” file structure with record locking

• Works well with floppy disk or ROM-based systems

• Uses hardware or software memory management

• High performance C, Pascal, Basic and Cobol compilers

— Tn&uwm^-
OS-9

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Phone 515-224-1929 Phone 0473(28)4493

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OS-9 is a trademark of Microware and Motorola. Unix is a trademark of Bell Labs.

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KEY EVENTS IN
UNIX SYSTEM EVOLUTION

MARKETING

BELL LABS
RESEARCH

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SUPPORT BEGINS RELEASE SYSTEM RELEASE ’ SYSTEM SYSTEM V

SUPPORT BEGINS 3 III 4 V RELEASE 2

RELEASE l

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SABBATICAL (11/70)

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VERSION 4.0
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‘70 ‘72

VERSION 4.1

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Courtesy of Larry Crume, AT&T UNIX Pacific.

own system, they were going to
have to maintain it themselves.
Surely, UNIX could be no worse.
They could use it to get started
and do the development. If a more
efficient or better operating
system was needed for a target
machine when they got into the
field, they could always build it,
but UNIX would at least get them
off the ground. “Naturally I knew
that once they got on this thing
they wouldn’t be able to get off.
It’s just like drugs,” Tague
explained.

Tague also knew it was impor¬
tant to get some field support.
“We were starting to put these
things in the operating companies
all around the countryside and the
prospects were that there were
going to be several hundred minis
over the next few years that were
going to have to be maintained
with all their software and hard¬
ware,” he said.

Bell had already gained some
field support experience maintain¬
ing electronic switching machines
and their software. Supporting a

network of minicomputers would
be a significantly different prob¬
lem, though. Maintaining an
operating system is not at all like
maintaining an electronic switch¬
ing system. The minicomputers
had different reliability demands,
requiring a different support
structure in the organization —
one that did not yet exist in any
form. In many ways, the opera¬
tions group was breaking new
ground.

Up to this point, Tague had
served as head of the Computer
Planning department responsible
for systems engineering. After
gaining support for UNIX in the
operations group over the course
of 1971 and 1972, he made a push
for two significant changes. The
first was to make UNIX an inter¬
nal standard and the second was
to offer central support through
his organization. In September,
1973, he was permitted to form a
group called UNIX Development
Support, the first development
organization supporting a “Stand¬
ard UNIX”. While this group

worked closely with Bell Labs
Research, its concerns sometimes
diverged.

One area the two groups could
agree on, though, was portability.
By 1973, it was already on the
horizon. Tague foresaw the
possibility of UNIX becoming an
interface between hardware and
software that would allow applica¬
tions to keep running while the
hardware underneath was
changing.

From the support point of
view, such a capability would
solve a very important problem.
Without UNIX and its potential
portability, the people building
the operations support systems
were faced with selecting an out¬
side vendor that could supply the
hardware on t which to get their
development done. Once that was
complete, they would be locked
into that vendor. Portability ob¬
viated this limitation and offered
a number of other advantages.
When making a hardware upgrade,
even to equipment from the same
vendor, there are variations from

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GENESIS STORY

version to version. That could cost
a lot of money in software revi¬
sions unless there were some level
of portability already written into
the scenario. Fortunately, the in¬
tegral portability of the system
developed by Research proved
adequate to make UNIX portable
over a wide range of hardware.

The first UNIX applications
were installed in 1973 on a system
involved in updating directory in¬
formation and intercepting calls to
numbers that had been changed.
The automatic intercept system
was delivered for use on early
PDP-1 Is. This was essentially the
first time UNIX was used to sup¬
port an actual, ongoing operating
business.

To Tague, at this time, “our
real problem was pruning the
tree”. There were so many dif¬
ferent sites using UNIX that each
would come up with different
answers to the same problems of
printer spooling, mail, help, and so
on. “The customers would invent
this stuff and make it work and
our problem was to get the slight¬
ly different variations together, get
the best of all of those worlds, put
it in the standard, and get it out
again.” This was, in many ways,
a political process. Tague credits
the “technical underpinnings” for
making the process easier than ex¬
pected. “That made it easy to get
the right stuff in without upsetting
the whole world. I didn’t have to
go to all of my customers and tell
them that this was now my new
version and that nothing they had
out in the field would run again,”
he said.

To provide a standard UNIX
system, the support group had to
establish what version it would
back. This was a process of
negotiation and compromise with
the UNIX-using community — not
a unilateral decision. The support
team and customers often ended
up arguing things out until
everybody understood the issues

and a suitable compromise was
made. “As one of the local gurus
put it to me one time,” Tague said,
“one of the problems in UNIX is
that everybody wants to carve his
initials in the tree.” When the
choice came down essentially to

From the very
beginning within
Beil, UNIX followed
what has become a
familiar pattern of
users leading their
management.

tossing a coin, Tague, as arbirator,
tried to make sure that each group
got at least one pet contribution
into the system.

Fortunately, UNIX is flexible
enough that even the particularly
traumatic decisions, such as the
ones concerning standard shell
versions, could be patched in
slowly — at the user’s discretion.

A FAMILIAR PATTERN

From the very beginning
within Bell, UNIX followed what
has become a familiar pattern of
users leading their management.
While this is riot the most com¬
mon marketing strategy in the
commercial world, it is typical of
Bell Labs’ “bottom-up” organiza¬
tion. According to Rudd Canaday,
now head of Bell Labs’ Artificial
Intelligence and Computing En¬
vironments Research Department,
change within the Labs often
comes from the people doing the
work. “UNIX spread throughout

Bell Laboratories because people
loved to use it,” he said.

Canaday first experienced
UNIX, although it hadn’t yet been
named, while working with
Thompson and Ritchie. He left
that group and later became head
of a group building large,
mainframe-oriented systems.
Because of his previous exposure
to UNIX, he wanted to bring it to
his new group.

Canaday found lots of support
among the programmers who had
already tasted UNIX. One of those,
Richard Haight, recalled, “I was
trying to get my management to
get UNIX and we dreamed up the
idea of using it as a common
timesharing interface to different
kinds of host computers.”

Initially, the project involved
interfacing with big IBM and
Univac machines, and later ex¬
panded to interfacing with RCA,
Xerox, and others. The basic idea
was to edit programs and work
with files under UNIX, but instead
of compiling and executing under
UNIX, you could send the remote
job off to a big machine. This way,
the programmer didn’t have to
deal with complicated IBM JCL se¬
quences since he could just give
the UNIX utility the parameters it
needed to know. The masses of
printout could then come back as
a file under UNIX and, as Dick
Haight put it, “save cutting down
a tree.” It also saved having to
retrain programmers for a variety
of host systems.

This original Programmer’s
Workbench system was built on a
PDP 11/45. The system eventually
offered lots of utilities, including
ones for analyzing host machine
dumps on the UNIX system.

While work proceeded on the
PWB system, an interesting dis¬
covery was made. The designers
had assumed that the majority of
the work cycle would involve the
host computer. Users were thought
of as editing a file, sending it to a

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RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

host computer, getting the print
file back, looking at it, and doing
that over and over again. As it
turned out, samples taken from
different kinds of work groups on
different systems showed people
tended to use the text formatter,
nroff, five times as often as they
submitted Remote Job Entry
programs.

This unexpected result might
not have happened had UNIX not
had fairly sophisticated word pro¬
cessing facilities available to
programmers. The original devel¬
opment for Bell’s legal department
could hardly be called “incredible
foresight”, but happily for UNIX,
word processing was to become
the single most commonly used
computer application. Once the
facilities were there, programmers
made massive, unexpected use of

them. This happened, according
to Haight, because programmers
have to be able to document pro¬
grams on the same machine used
for development. “Things like
pipes and the power of the shell
are not to be slighted, but what’s
really important is the fact that
you can do your documentation
and your programming on the
same machine,” he said. You can
be editing your documentation
and break away from that to edit
the source. When you’re finished
with that, you can submit a com¬
pile in the background and go
back to editing your documenta¬
tion while the compile happens.

Flushed with the success of
the PWB and the Remote Job En¬
try facility, Canaday and his group
set about showing people what
was possible. Once the users were

convinced, Canaday said to
management, “Well, if you want
to keep on using this, you’re going
to have to start buying machines
to do it.” He knew that “once you
let people get their hands on
UNIX, they just won’t let go.”

A key piece in the rapid
spread of UNIX within Bell Labs
was the low price of mini¬
computers relative to mainframes.
A department head’s urging was
generally sufficient for purchase of
a VAX. Mainframe purchases were
considerably more sticky. A VAX
had sufficient power to reasonably
serve the needs of a department,
so VAXen became increasingly
commonplace.

More and more departments
were becoming convinced that
UNIX was part of the path toward

Continued to Page 117

REFLECTIONS ON
SOFTWARE RESEARCH

Can the circumstances that nurtured the UNIX project
be produced again?

The UNIX operating system
has suddenly become news, but it
is not new. It began in 1969 when
Ken Thompson discovered a little-
used PDP-7 computer and set
out to fashion a computing en¬
vironment that he liked. His work
soon attracted me; I joined in
the enterprise, though most of the
ideas, and most of the work for
that matter, were his. Before long,
others from our group in the
research area of AT&T Bell

Laboratories were using the

by Dennis M. Ritchie

system: Joe Ossanna, Doug
Mcllroy, and Bob Morris were es¬
pecially enthusiastic critics and
contributors. In 1971, we acquired
a PDP-11, and by the end of that
year we were supporting our first
real users: three typists entering
patent applications. In 1973, the
system was rewritten in the C
language, and in that year, too, it
was first described publicly at the
Operating Systems Principles con¬
ference; the resulting paper [8]
appeared in Communications of

the ACM the next year.

Thereafter, its use grew
steadily, both inside and outside of
Bell Laboratories. A development
group was established to support
projects inside the company, and
several research versions were
licensed for outside use.

The last research distribution
was the seventh edition system,
which appeared in 1979; more
recently, AT&T began to market
System III, and now offers System
Continued to Page 118

■VI'.jIiwV" ■'''‘IMIlli mi II • |V 1 H

28 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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BERKELEY

ODYSSEY

Ten years of BSD history

by Marshall Kirk McKusick

Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie presented the first UNIX
paper at the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles at Pur¬
due University in November, 1973. Professor Bob Fabry was in
attendance and immediately became interested in obtaining a
copy of the system to experiment with at Berkeley.

At the time, Berkeley had only large mainframe computer
systems doing batch processing, so the first order of business was
to get a PDP-11/45 suitable for running the then current Version
4 of UNIX. The Computer Science Department, together with the
Mathematics Department and the Statistics Department were able
to jointly purchase a PDP-11/45. In January, 1974, a Version 4
tape was delivered and UNIX was installed by graduate student
Keith Standiford.

Although Ken Thompson was not involved in the installation
— as he had been for most systems up to that time — his exper¬
tise was soon needed to determine the cause of several strange
system crashes. Because Berkeley had only a 300 baud acoustic-
coupled modem without auto answer capability, Thompson would
call Standiford in the machine room and have him insert the
phone into the modem; in this way Thompson was able to remote¬
ly debug crash dumps from New Jersey.

■■ihh

BERKELEY ODYSSEY

Many of the crashes were
caused by the disk controller’s
inability to reliably do overlapped
seeks, contrary to the documenta¬
tion. Berkeley’s 11/45 was among
the first systems that Thompson
had encountered that had two
disks on the same controller!
Thompson’s remote debugging
was the first example of the
cooperation that sprang up be¬
tween Berkeley and Bell Labs. The
willingness of the researchers at
the Labs to share their work with
Berkeley was instrumental in the
rapid improvement of the software
available at Berkeley.

Though UNIX was soon
reliably up and running, the coa¬
lition of Computer Science,
Mathematics, and Statistics began
to run into problems; Math and
Statistics wanted to run DEC’S
RSTS system. After much debate,
a compromise was reached in
which each department would get
an eight-hour shift; UNIX would
run for eight hours followed by 16
hours of RSTS. To promote
fairness, the time slices were
rotated each day. Thus UNIX ran
8 am to 4 pm one day, 4 pm to
midnight the next day, and mid¬
night to 8 am the third day.
Despite the bizarre schedule,
students taking the Operating
Systems course preferred to do
their projects on UNIX rather than
on the batch machine.

Professors Eugene Wong and
Michael Stonebraker were both
stymied by the confinements of
the batch environment, so their
Ingres database project was
among the first groups to move
from the batch machines to the in¬
teractive environment provided
by UNIX. They quickly found the
shortage of machine time and the
odd hours on the 11/45 in¬
tolerable, so in the Spring of 1974,
they purchased an 11/40 running
the newly available Version 5.
With their first distribution of In¬
gres in the Fall of 1974, the Ingres

project became the first group in
the Computer Science department
to distribute its software. Several
hundred Ingres tapes were
shipped over the next six years,
helping to establish Berkeley’s
reputation for designing and
building real systems.

Even with the departure of
the Ingres project from the 11/45,
there was still insufficient time

Arriving in the Fall
of 1975 were two
unnoticed graduate
students. Bill Joy
and Chuck Haley.

available for the remaining stu¬
dents. To alleviate the shortage,
Professors Michael Stonebraker
and Bob Fabry set out in June,

1974, to get two instructional
ll/45s for the Computer Science
department’s own use. Early in

1975, the money was obtained. At
nearly the same time DEC an¬
nounced the 11/70, a machine
that appeared to be much superior
to the 11/45. Money for the two
1 l/45s was pooled to buy a single
11/70 that arrived in the Fall of
1975. Coincident with the arrival
of the 11/70, Ken Thompson
decided to take a one-year sab¬
batical as a visiting professor at
his alma mater. Thompson,
together with Jeff Schriebman
and Bob Kridle, brought up the
latest UNIX, Version 6, on the
newly installed 11/70.

Also arriving in the Fall of
1975, were two unnoticed
graduate students. Bill Joy and
Chuck Haley; they both took an

immediate interest in the new
system. Initially they began work¬
ing on a Pascal system that
Thompson had hacked together
while hanging around the 11/70
machine room. They expanded
and improved the interpreter
system to the point that it became
the programming system of
choice for students because of its
excellent error recovery scheme
and fast compile and execute
time.

With the replacement of
Model 33 teletypes by ADM-3
screen terminals, Joy and Haley
began to feel stymied by the con¬
straints of the ed editor. Working
from an editor named em that
they had obtained from Professor
George Coulouris at Queen Mary’s
College in London, they worked to
produce the line-at-a-time editor
ex.

With Ken Thompson’s depar¬
ture at the end of the Summer of

1976, Joy and Haley begin to take
an interest in exploring the inter¬
nals of the UNIX kernel. Under
Schriebman’s watchful eye, they
first installed the fixes and im¬
provements provided on the “fif¬
ty changes’’ tape from Bell Labs.
Having learned to maneuver
through the source code, they sug¬
gested several small enhance¬
ments to streamline certain kernel
bottlenecks.

FIRST DISTRIBUTION

Meanwhile, interest in the er¬
ror recovery work in the Pascal
compiler brought in requests for
copies of the system. Early in

1977, Joy put together the
“Berkeley Software Distribution”.
This first distribution included the
Pascal system and — in an
obscure subdirectory of the Pascal
source — the editor ex. Over the
next year, Joy, acting in the
capacity of distribution secretary,
sent out about 30 free copies of the
system.

With the arrival of some

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BERKELEY ODYSSEY

ADM-3a terminals offering screen-
addressable cursors, Joy was
finally able to write vi, bringing
screen-based editing to Berkeley.
He soon found himself in a quan¬
dary. As is frequently the case in
universities strapped for money,
old equipment is never replaced
all at once. Rather than support
code for optimizing the updating
of several different terminals, he
decided to consolidate the screen
management by using a small
interpreter to redraw the screen.
This interpreter was driven by a
description of the terminal char¬
acteristics, thus spawning the
now famous termcap.

By mid-1978, the software
distribution clearly needed to be
updated. The Pascal system had
been made markedly more robust
through feedback from its expand¬
ing user community, and had
been split into two passes so that
it could be run on PDP-ll/34s.
The result of the update was the
“Second Berkeley Software
Distribution” that was quickly
shortened to 2 BSD. Along with
the enhanced Pascal system, vi
and termcap for several terminals
was included. Once again, Bill Joy
single-handedly put together
distributions, answered the
phone, and incorporated user
feedback into the system. Over the
next year, nearly 75 tapes were
shipped. Though Joy moved on to
other projects the following year,
the 2 BSD distribution continued
to expand. Today the latest ver¬
sion of this distribution, 2.9 BSD,
is a complete system for PDP-1 Is.

VAX UNIX

Early in 1978, Professor
Richard Fateman began looking
for a machine with a larger ad¬
dress space that he could use to
continue his work on Macsyma
that had started on a PDP-10. The
newly announced VAX-11/780
seemed to fulfill the requirements
and was available within budget.

Fateman and 13 other faculty
members put together an NSF
proposal that they combined with
some departmental funds to pur¬
chase a VAX.

Initially the VAX ran DEC’S
operating system VMS, but the
department had gotten used to the
UNIX environment and wanted to
continue using it. So, shortly after

Initially the VAX
ran DEC'S
operating system
VMS, but the
department had
gotten used to the
UNIX environment
and wanted to
continue using it.

the arrival of the VAX, Fateman
obtained a copy of the 32/V port of
UNIX to the VAX by John Reiser
and Tom London of Bell Labs.

Although 32/V provided a
Version 7 UNIX environment on
the VAX, it did not take advantage
of the virtual memory capability of
the VAX hardware. Like its
predecessors on the PDP-11, it
was entirely a swap-based system.
For the Macsyma group at
Berkeley, the lack of virtual
memory meant that the process
address space was limited by the
size of the physical memory,
initially 1 MB on the new VAX.

To alleviate this problem,
Fateman approached Professor
Domenico Ferrari, a member of
the systems faculty at Berkeley,
to investigate the possibility of

having his group write a virtual
memory system for UNIX. Ozalp
Babaoglu, one of Ferrari’s stu¬
dents, set about to find some way
of implementing a working set
paging system on the VAX; his
task was complicated because the
VAX lacked reference bits.

As Babaoglu neared the com¬
pletion of his first cut at an im¬
plementation, he approached Bill
Joy for some help in understand¬
ing the intricacies of the UNIX
kernel. Intrigued by Babaoglu’s
approach, Joy joined in helping to
integrate the code into 32/V and
then with the ensuing debugging.

Unfortunately, Berkeley had
only a single VAX for both system
development and general produc¬
tion use. Thus for several weeks,
the tolerant user community alter¬
nately found themselves logging
into 32/V and “Virtual VAX/
UNIX”. Often their work on the
latter system would come to an
abrupt halt, followed several
minutes later by a 32/V login
prompt. By January of 1979, most
of the bugs had been worked out,
and 32/V had been relegated to
history.

Joy saw that the 32-bit VAX
would soon obsolete the 16-bit
PDP-11 and began to port the 2
BSD software to the VAX. While
Peter Kessler and I ported the
Pascal system, Joy ported the
editors ex and vi, the C shell, and
the myriad other smaller pro¬
grams on 2 BSD. By the end of
1979, a complete distribution had
been put together. This distribu¬
tion included the virtual memory
kernel, the standard 32/V utilities,
and the additions from 2 BSD. In
December, 1979, Joy shipped the
first of nearly a hundred copies of
3 BSD, the first VAX distribution
from Berkeley.

DARPA SUPPORT

Meanwhile, in the offices of
the planners for the Defense Ad¬
vanced Research Projects Agency,

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BERKELEY ODYSSEY

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centers were reaching the end of
their useful lifetime and had to be
replaced. The heaviest cost of
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machines. In addition, many sites
were unable to share their soft¬
ware because of the diversity of
hardware and operating systems.

Choosing a single hardware
vendor was impractical because of
the widely varying computing
needs of the research groups and
the undesirability of depending on
a single manufacturer. Thus, the
planners at DARPA decided that
the best solution was to unify at
the operating systems level. After
much discussion, UNIX was
chosen as a standard because of
its proven portability.

In the Fall of 1979, Bob Fabry
responded to DARPA’s interest in
moving towards UNIX by writing
a proposal suggesting that
Berkeley develop an enhanced
version of 3 BSD for the use of the
DARPA community. Fabry took a
copy of his proposal to a meeting
of DARPA image processing and
VLSI contractors, plus represen¬
tatives from Bolt, Beranek, and
Newman, the developers of the
ARPAnet. There was some reser¬
vation whether Berkeley could
produce a working system,
but the release of 3 BSD in Decem¬
ber, 1979, assuaged most of the
doubts.

With the increasingly good
reputation of the 3 BSD release to
validate his claims, Bob Fabry was
able to land an 18-month contract
with DARPA beginning in April,
1980. This contract was to add
features needed by the DARPA
contractors. He immediately hired
Laura Tong to handle the project
administration. With the negotia¬
tions for the contract on track,
Fabry turned his attention to find¬
ing a project leader to manage the
software development. Fabry had
assumed that since Joy had just
passed his Ph.D. qualifying ex¬
amination, he would rather con¬
centrate on completing his degree
than assume the software develop¬
ment position. But Joy had other
plans. One night in early March he

36 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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BERKELEY ODYSSEY

phoned Fabry at home to express
interest in taking charge of the fur¬
ther development of UNIX.
Though surprised by the offer,
Fabry took little time to agree.

The project started promptly.
Tong set up a distribution system
that could handle a higher volume
of orders than Joy’s previous
distributions. Fabry managed to
coordinate with Bob Guffy at
AT&T, and lawyers at the Uni¬
versity of California to formally
release UNIX under terms agree¬
able to all. Joy incorporated Jim
Kulp’s job control, added auto
reboot, a IK block file system, and
support for the latest VAX
machine, the VAX-11/750. By
October, 1980, a polished distribu¬
tion that also included the Pascal
compiler, the Franz Lisp system,
and an enhanced mail handling
system was released as 4 BSD.
During its nine-month lifetime,
nearly 150 copies were shipped.
The license arrangement was on
a per institution basis rather than
a per machine basis, thus the
distribution ran on about 500
machines.

With the increasingly wide
distribution and visibility of
Berkeley UNIX, several critics
began to emerge. David Kashtan
at Stanford Research Institute
wrote a paper describing the
results of benchmarks he had run
on both VMS and Berkeley UNIX.
These benchmarks showed
several severe performance prob¬
lems with the UNIX system for the
VAX. Setting his future plans
aside for several months, Joy
systematically began tuning up
the kernel. Within weeks he had
a rebuttal paper written showing
that Kastan’s benchmarks could
be made to run as well on UNIX as
they could on VMS. Rather than
continue shipping 4 BSD, the
tuned up system with the addition
of Robert Elz’s auto configuration
code was released as 4.1 BSD in
June, 1981. Over its two-year

lifetime about 400 distributions
were shipped.

4.2 BSD

With the release of 4.1 BSD,
much of the furor over perfor¬
mance died down. DARPA was
sufficiently satisfied with the
results of the first contract that a
new two-year contract was
granted to Berkeley with funding

With the release of
4.1 BSD, much of
the furor over
performance died
down.

almost five times that of the
original. Half of the money went to
the UNIX project, the rest to other
researchers in the Computer
Science department. The contract
called for major work to be done
on the system so the DARPA
research community could better
do its work.

Based on the needs of the
DARPA community, goals were
set and work began to define the
modifications to the system. In
particular, the new system was
expected to include a faster
file system that would raise
throughput to the speed of
available disk technology, would
support processes with multi¬
gigabyte address space require¬
ments, would provide flexible
interprocess communication
facilities that would allow re¬
searchers to do work in
distributed systems, and would
integrate networking support so
that machines running the new

system could easily participate in
the ARPAnet.

To assist in defining the new
system, Duane Adams, Berkeley’s
contract monitor at DARPA,
formed a group known as the
“steering committee” to help
guide the design work and ensure
that the research community’s
needs were addressed. This com¬
mittee met twice a year between
April, 1981 and June, 1983, and
included Bob Fabry, Bill Joy,
and Sam Leffler of the University
of California at Berkeley; Alan
Nemeth and Rob Gurwitz of Bolt,
Beranek, and Newman; Dennis
Ritchie of Bell Laboratories;
Keith Lantz of Stanford Uni¬
versity; Rick Rashid of Carnegie-
Mellon University; Bert Halstead
of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; Dan Lynch of The
Information Sciences Institute;
Duane Adams and Bob Baker of
DARPA; and Jerry Popek of the
University of California at Los
Angeles. Beginning in 1984, these
meetings were supplanted by
workshops that were expanded to
include many more people.

An initial document pro¬
posing facilities to be included in
the new system was circulated to
the steering committee and other
people outside Berkeley in July,
1981, sparking many lengthy
debates. In the Summer of 1981,

I became involved with the project
and took on the implementation of
the new file system. During the
summer, Joy concentrated on im¬
plementing a prototype version of
the interprocess communication
facilities. In the Fall of 1981, Sam
Leffler joined the project as a full¬
time staff member to work with
Bill Joy.

When Rob Gurwitz released
an early implementation of the
TCP/IP protocols to Berkeley, Joy
integrated it into the system and
tuned its performance. During this
work, it became clear to Joy and
Leffler that the new system would

36 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1955

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BERKELEY ODYSSEY

need to provide support for more
than just the DARPA standard
network protocols. Thus, they
redesigned the internal structur¬
ing of the software, refining the
interfaces so that multiple net¬
work protocols could be used
simultaneously.

With the internal restructur¬
ing completed and the TCP/IP
protocols integrated with the
prototype IPC facilities, several
simple applications were created
to provide local users access
to remote resources. These pro¬
grams, rep, rsh, rlogin,and rwho,
were intended to be temporary
tools that would eventually be
replaced by more reasonable
facilities (hence the use of the
distinguishing r prefix). This
system, called 4.1a, was first
distributed in April, 1982 for local
use; it was never intended that it
would have wide circulation,
though bootleg copies of the
system proliferated as sites grew
impatient waiting for the 4.2
release.

The 4. la system was obsolete
long before it was frozen.
However, its construction and
feedback from users provided
valuable information that was us¬
ed to create a revised proposal for
the new system called the ‘*4.2
BSD System Manual”. This docu¬
ment was circulated in February,
1982 and contained a concise
description of the proposed user
interface to the system facilities
that were to be part of 4.2 BSD.

Concurrent with the 4.1a
development, I completed the
implementation of the new file
system, and by June of 1982 had
fully integrated it into the 4.1a
kernel. The resulting system was
called 4. lb and ran on only a few
select development machines at
Berkeley. Joy felt that with signifi¬
cant impending changes to the
system, it was best to avoid even
a local distribution, particularly
since it required every machine’s

file systems to be dumped and
restored to convert from 4.1a to
4. lb. Once the file system proved
to be stable, Leffler proceeded to
add the new file system-related
system calls, while Joy worked on
revising the interprocess com¬
munication facilities.

In late Spring 1982, Joy
announced he was joining Sun
Microsystems. Over the summer,
he split his time between Sun and
Berkeley, spending most of his
time polishing his revisions to the
interprocess communication
facilities and reorganizing the
UNIX kernel sources to isolate
machine dependencies. Pauline
Schwartz was hired to take over
the distribution duties. David
Mosher was hired as a technical
manager to resolve problems from
users in the field and to handle
ordering, installation, and run¬
ning of the project’s hardware.

With Joy’s departure, Leffler
took over responsibility for com¬
pleting the project. Certain
deadlines had already been
established and the release had
been promised to the DARPA
community for the Spring of 1983.
Given the time constraints, the
work remaining to complete the
release was evaluated and
priorities were set. In particular,
the virtual memory enhance¬
ments and the most sophisticated
parts of the interprocess com¬
munication design were relegated
to low priority (and later shelved
completely). Also, with the im¬
plementation more than a year old
and the UNIX community’s ex¬
pectations heightened, it was
decided an intermediate release
should be put together to hold peo¬
ple until the final system could be
completed. This system, called
4.1c, was distributed in April,
1983; many vendors used this
release to prepare for ports of 4.2
to their hardware.

In June, 1983, Bob Fabry
turned over administrative control

of the project to Professors
Domenico Ferrari and Susan
Graham to begin a sabbatical free
from the frantic pace of the
previous four years. Leffler con¬
tinued the completion of the
system, implementing the new
signal facilities, adding to the
networking support, redoing the
standalone I/O system to simplify
the installation process, in¬
tegrating the disk quota facilities
from Robert Elz, updating all the
documentation, and tracking the
bugs from the 4.1c release. In
August, 1983, the system was
released as 4.2 BSD.

When Leffler left Berkeley for
Lucasfilm following the comple¬
tion of 4.2, he was replaced by
Mike Karels. Karels’s previous
experience with the 2.9 BSD soft¬
ware distribution provided an
ideal background for his new job.
The popularity of 4.2 BSD was im¬
pressive; within 18 months, more
copies of 4.2 BSD had been ship¬
ped than of all the previous
Berkeley software distributions
combined.

As with 4 BSD, commentary
of the vociferous critics was quick
in coming. Most of the complaints
indicated that the system ran too
slowly. The problem, not surpris¬
ingly, was that the new facilities
had not been tuned and that many
of the kernel data structures were
not well suited to their new uses.
Karels’ first year on the project
was spent tuning and polishing
the system. An anticipated release
of the polished system early in
1985 is expected to quell many of
the performance complaints —
much as the 4.1 BSD release quell¬
ed many of the complaints about
4 BSD.

After completing my Ph.D. in
December 1984, I joined Mike
Karels on the project. We hope
that other researchers will con¬
tinue to share their work with
Berkeley. By incorporating the
work of other researchers

40 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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BERKELEY UNDERGROUND

uniformly into the UNIX system at
Berkeley, we can continue to offer
the UNIX community a widely
available state-of-the-art UNIX
system.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Bill Joy , Sam Leffler ,
Eric Allman , and Professors Bob
Fabry, Richard Fate man, and
Domenico Ferrari for providing
the historical information pre¬
sented in this article. Unfortunate¬
ly, space constraints prevent me

from describing the enormous
amount of work that went into the
user level software. I thank those
people whose accomplishments
have not been mentioned, but
nevertheless have contributed
much to the system’s vitality.
For the last five years, I have
been supported by the National
Science Foundation under grant
MCS80-05144, and the Defense
Advance Research Projects Agen¬
cy (DoD) under ARPA Order No.
4031 monitored by Naval Elec¬

tronic System Command under
Contract No. N00039-82-C-0235.

Kirk McKusick is involved in
the development of Berkeley UNIX
as a Research Computer Scientist for
the Computer Systems Research
Group at the University of Califor¬
nia. While a graduate student, he im¬
plemented the fast file system
distributed on 4.2 BSD and worked
on the Berkeley Pascal system. ■

FEAR AND LOATHING
ON THE

UNIX TRAIL ’76

It was 2 am and I was lying
face down on the floor in Cory
Hall, the EECS building on the UC
Berkeley campus, waiting for Bob
to finish installing our bootleg
copy of the UNIX kernel. If suc¬
cessful, new and improved ter¬
minal drivers we had written
would soon be up and running.

We were enhancing the
system in the middle of the night
because we had no official sanc¬
tion to do the work. That didn’t
stop us, though, since UNIX had
just freshly arrived from Bell Labs,
where computer security had
never been an issue. The system
was now facing its first acid test —
exposure to a group of intelligent,
determined students — and its
security provisions were failing
with regularity.

I was lying face down because
I’d gone without sleep for over two
days, and the prone position
somehow seemed the most logical
under the circumstances. Bob was
still working because he’d napped
not 30 hours before, giving him
seniority under the “Hacker-best-
able-to-perform” rule of our infor-

Notes from
the underground

by Doug Merritt

with Ken Arnold and Bob Toxen

mal order. We might have called
our group “Berkeley Undergrad¬
uate Programmers for a Better
UNIX’’, or, less euphemistically,
“Frustrated Hackers for Our Own
Ideas’’. But, in truth, our group
was never named. It was simply a
matter of Us versus Them.

“Them” was the bureaucracy
— the school administrators, the
system administrators, most pro¬
fessors, some grad students, and
even the legendary Implementors
themselves at Bell Labs.

“Us” was a small, self-
selected group of undergraduates
with a passion for UNIX. We were
interested in computers and in
programming because it fasci¬
nated us; we lived for the high
level of intellectual stimulation
only hacking could provide.
Although some in our group never
expressed an interest in breaking
computer security, others in¬
vested thousands of fruitful hours
in stealing accounts and gaining
superuser access to various UNIX
systems. Our object? To read
system source code.

For the most part we stayed

42 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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BERKELEY UNDERGROUND

out of trouble, although one of our
rank once had his phone records
subpoenaed by the FBI — after a
minor incident with a Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory
computer. The Feds seemed to
think our comrade had been did¬
dling with top secret weapons
research, but he actually hadn’t.

Our group could probably
best be characterized by its in¬
terest in creating and using power¬
ful software, regardless of the
source of the idea. Our battle
cry, thanks to Ross Harvey, was
“FEATURES!!!”, and we took it
seriously. Well, Ross may have
been a little sarcastic about it,
since he was referring to super¬
fluous bells and whistles. But I
used the expression as shorthand
for “elegant, powerful, and flexi¬
ble”. We were always bugging
Them to add “just one more
feature” to some utility like the
shell or kernel. Although They ac¬
cepted some suggestions, They
didn’t think twice about most.

One example stands out. In
early 1977, Ross, Bob, and I spent
months collaborating on a new
and improved shell, just before
Bill Joy had started on what is
now known as the C shell. The
most historically significant
features we designed were Ross’s
command to change the shell’s
prompt, Bob’s command to print
or chdir to the user’s home direc¬
tory, and my own edit feature,
which allowed screen editing and
re-execution of previous com¬
mands. What we did was smaller
in scope than what Bill later in¬
cluded in the C shell, but to Us it
was unarguably better than what
was then available. We ceased
work on our projects only when it
became clear that Bill was
developing what would obviously
become a new standard shell. Our
energies then were re-focused on
persuading him to include our
ideas. Some of our features
ultimately were incorporated,
some weren’t.

We modified the kernel to
support asynchronous I/O, distri¬
buted files, security traces, “real¬
time” interrupts for subprocess
multitasking, limited screen
editing, and various new system

It was simply a
matter of Us versus
Them.

calls. We wrote compilers, ass¬
emblers, linkers, disassemblers,
database utilities, cryptographic
utilities, tutorial help systems,
games, and screen-oriented ver¬
sions of standard utilities. User
friendly utilities for new users that
avoided accidental file deletion,
libraries to support common
operations on data structures
such as lists, strings, trees, sym¬
bol tables, and libraries to perform
arbitrary precision arithmetic and
symbolic mathematics were other
contributions. We suggested im¬
provements to many system calls
and to most utilities. We offered to
fix the option flags so that the dif¬
ferent utilities were consistent
with one another.

To Us, nothing was sacred,
and We saw a great deal in UNIX
that could stand improvement.
Much of what We implemented, or
asked to be allowed to implement,
is now a part of System V and 4.2
BSD; others of our innovations are
still missing from all versions of
UNIX. Despite these accom¬
plishments, it seemed that
whenever We asked The Powers
That Be to install Our software
and make it available to the rest of
the system’s users, We were
greeted with stony silence.

Fred Brooks, in The Mythical
Man-Month, describes the NIH
(Not Invented Here) Syndrome,

wherein a group of people will
tend to ignore ideas originated
outside their own social group.
However, there was a stronger
force at work at Berkeley, where
a certain social stratification
prevails that finds Nobel Lau¬
reates and department chairs
ranking as demigods, professors
functioning as high priests,
graduate students considered as
lower class citizens, and under¬
graduates existing only on suf¬
ferance from the higher orders —
and suffered very little at that.
Now, the individuals cannot be
blamed for what is, in essence, an
entire social order. But this is not
to say that we did not hold it
against them — for we most
assuredly did. Unfortunately, it
took time for us to appreciate the
difficulties of Fighting City Hall.

This is why We were
frustrated. This is why We felt We
HAD to break security. Once We
did, We simply added Our features
to the system, whether The
Powers That Be liked it or not.
Needless to say, They didn’t. This
is why We felt like freedom
fighters, noble figures even when
found in the ignoble position of ly¬
ing face down on the floor of Cory
Hall at two in the morning.

We were on a mission that
morning to install our new ter¬
minal driver. With the old, stan¬
dard terminal driver, the screen
gave you no indication that the
previous character had been
deleted when you pressed the
erase character. You had to accept
it on faith. This remains true on
many UNIX systems today. Most
people on Cory Hall UNIX chang¬
ed their erase character to
backspace so that later characters
would overwrite the erased ones,
but even that was not sufficient.
This was especially true when
erasing a backslash, which
counter-intuitively required two
erase characters. We wanted the
system to show that the character
Continued to Page 108

44 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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THE BUSINESS EVOLUTION

OF THE

UNIX SYSTEM

An account from the inside

Illustration by Ivy Nichols

by Otis Wilson

Thanks to the developers of
the UNIX operating system, and to
the research method at AT&T Bell
Laboratories, the technical evolu¬
tion of the UNIX System has been
well documented and its history
largely understood. From a
technical perspective, there just
isn’t much argument about who
did what when and why things
were done the way they were.

On the other hand, the
‘'business” history of the UNIX
system is largely an oral one, rich
in folklore and popularized by the
modem press in hopes of finding
some explanation for the phe¬
nomenon that is the UNIX system.

For all its entertaining quali¬
ty, the oral tradition is not very
instructive, especially for those,
including AT&T, that will build
their futures on the success of
UNIX software.

Although a complete business
history is beyond the scope of a
single article, a few insights into
the major events can put the
“evolution” into its proper
perspective, and can give us all a
better view of what the future
might hold,

INSIDE THE CORPORATE
CULTURE

Nothing has had a more pro¬
found impact on the business
development of the UNIX system
than AT&T’s own corporate
culture. And although there have
been many “cultural” influences
that have molded the evolution,
two stand out most prominently.

The first is the well-estab¬
lished intellectual bond between
AT&T Bell Laboratories and the
academic community — one that
goes beyond formal internship
and summer on-campus pro¬
grams. The relationship has been
nurtured throughout the history
of Bell Labs, and it has con¬
tributed significantly to the Labs’
effectiveness as one of the world’s
leading research institutions. It
has also had more than a casual
impact on AT&T’s ability to at¬
tract outstanding technical talent.

The second major influence

was the 1956 Consent Decree, the
settlement of a complex antitrust
case that would, among other
things, clearly define the Bell
System’s business. In its defini¬
tion, the Consent Decree was une¬
quivocal: the Bell System was to
provide telecommunications pro¬
ducts to the Bell Telephone Com¬
panies and telecommunications
service to the nation — and
nothing more.

THE CONSENT DECREE AND
SOFTWARE

Under the terms of the Con¬
sent Decree, the Bell System was
required to license certain tech¬
nologies that had been funded by
its regulated business, and an
organization. Patent Licensing,
had to be set up to manage the
effort.

But contrary to popular belief,
the Consent Decree did not ad¬
dress the issue of software. In fact,
the technology was virtually
unknown at the time. Conse¬
quently, AT&T was not specifi¬
cally obligated to license its soft¬
ware; nor was it restrained from
entering the software business.
Software was a muddy issue in an
otherwise clear statement of
AT&T’s legal responsibilities.

As early as 1967, even before
the development of the UNIX
system, the technical relationship
between Bell Laboratories and
universities across the nation had
spawned a number of requests for
AT&T software. In the interest of
further cultivating that relation¬
ship, there was a genuine desire to
share the technology. There were
also concerns. Was the company
required to, or enjoined from,
licensing software? A definitive
answer would have required
revisiting the Justice Depart¬
ment’s ruling, and, understan¬
dably, few in the company were
inclined to raise any issue that
might require doing so.

Instead, the company took a
more prudent approach. To
preclude any conflict with the
Consent Decree, AT&T would
license its software under the Con¬
sent Decree’s legally established
procedures but would made it
clear that it had no intention of

pursuing software as a business.
The policy was restated over and
over again at every gathering of
the faithful — “As is, no support,
payment in advance!”

ENTER UNIX SOFTWARE

It was in this climate of
technical exchange and legal
uncertainty that the UNIX system
first spread to academia in the ear¬
ly 1970s. At the time, the UNIX
system was still a research pro¬
ject, and its impact on AT&T’s
total computing environment was
minimal. In fact, it’s fair to say
that many colleges and univer¬
sities knew more about the UNIX
system than did AT&T’s
mainstream data processing
community.

By 1972, educational interest
in the UNIX system had grown to
the point that there were a hand¬
ful of universities requesting
copies of the software for use in
their computer science programs.
Initially, requests were referred to
the the developers themselves,
and through the patent attorneys
at Bell Laboratories, the software
was conveyed royalty-free under
simple letter agreements.

Within a few months how¬
ever, as the volume began to tax
the resources of the Labs, respon¬
sibility for licensing fell to AT&T’s
Patent Licensing organization, the
group that had been vested with
the responsibility for licensing in¬
tellectual properties under the
Consent Decree.

INSIDE PATENT LICENSING

Patent Licensing was an
organization with an intentionally
low profile. Historically, negotia¬
tions for AT&T patents were
conducted at very high levels and
the discussions were particularly
sensitive. The organization’s
management would typically be
involved in only four or five
negotiations per year, but each
might stretch on for months and
involve teams of lawyers, account¬
ants, and millions *bf dollars. It
was, by any measure, a high
stakes game.

In such an environment, non-
revenue-producing software was a

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 47

PRODUCT EVOLUTION

low priority. The lack of commit¬
ment was no more evident than in
the licensing organization itself.

There were those, however,
who recognized the potential for
software. By the early 1970s,
there were approximately two
dozen software packages that had
been released by AT&T under
license agreements. Of them, 10
showed significant potential. The
UNIX system was the clear leader.

Those 10 packages formed
the basis of a “mini” business
case, but few would be con¬
vinced of the need for additional
resources to support the licensing
effort. AT&T’s policy was clear,
and it would withstand a number
of challenges before being
reversed.

ENTER COMMERCIAL
INTERESTS

Had the licensing of UNIX
software been restricted to univer¬
sities, the story might have ended
there. But the emergence of com¬
mercial interest in the software
placed new demands on the
organization and forced a decision
that would eventually lead to the
creation of a market.

By 1974, AT&T had estab¬
lished nominal distribution fees
for the software, but the income
from universities was insufficient
to offset the costs associated with
licensing. When the company
actually received its first commer¬
cial requests in 1974, there were
no commercial prices in place, nor

was there much of a notion about
how the software should be priced
for commercial use.

Although most agreed that
commercial licensing would help
the software effort earn its keep,
there was little initial agreement
on how the pricing should be
structured. Many felt the price
should be set abnormally high to
discourage widespread use. Under
such a scheme, income from just
a few licenses would provide more
than enough income to defray
licensing expenses. Others, in¬
cluding the developers, felt the
price should be set artificially low
to encourage use and experimen¬
tation. Still others argued for a
price that would be competitive
with existing systems (minus an

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PRODUCT EVOLUTION

adjustment to reflect the lack of
support). Significantly, the com¬
pany chose to base the software
price on market considerations.

The decision would have a
profound influence on the
business history of the UNIX
system. It indicated, for the first
time, the company’s genuine
business interest in the software.
More importantly, it led to the
establishment of a “customer
base” whose needs were radically
different from those for whom the
software had been designed.

Clearly, commercial users of
the system considered themselves
“customers” despite AT&T’s
disclaimer that it had but one
customer — namely, the Bell
System. Commercial users
wanted greater functionality,
more commercial features, more
flexible terms and conditions, as
well as additional rights, including
the right to sublicense. They were
the impetus for change, and a con¬
stant challenge to AT&T’s
established policy. The changes
were slow in coming, a source of
frustration to many of them and a
condition that set the stage for the
love/hate relationship that has
long characterized UNIX software
in the commercial world.

A BUSINESS EMERGES

During the period 1974-1978,
AT&T introduced several versions
of the UNIX system for a wide
variety of DEC hardware, and
each release prompted an increase
in the number of requests for the
software.

For the most part, licensing
policies and pricing remained con¬
sistent, but functional differences
increased both internal and exter¬
nal pressures to provide a single,
consistent and — from an internal
viewpoint — supportable version
that could be used in a production
environment. There were also
demands from external licensees

to incorporate more commercial

features that had been developed
elsewhere.

In late 1980, Western Electric,
the manufacturing and supply
arm of the Bell System, essentially
“bought out” its other corporate
partners that provided the funding
for UNIX system development and
established a single funding
source. Responsibility for produc¬
tion and distribution of the source
tapes was moved from Bell
Laboratories, which had per¬
formed those functions from the
beginning, to Western Electric.
Although a firm business commit¬
ment was not yet established, it
was clear that the company was
beginning to think about the
UNIX system as a product. After
all, that was Western Electric’s
role in the Bell System.

Under Western Electric’s
direction and in response to
AT&T’s largest external cus¬
tomer, the federal government, a
number of efforts were made to
provide a more “commercial” pro¬
duct. Research notes were
assembled to form official
“documentation”, and a support
organization was established to
assist government licensees. What
emerged from the whole of this
effort was UNIX System III.

UNIX System III was enor¬
mously successful in many
respects. For the first time, it com¬
bined in a single release many of
the best features of the earlier ver¬
sions, plus some enhancements of
its own. It was also the first ver¬
sion to be released externally at
about the same time it was
released internally. Historically,
“commercial” releases lagged
significantly behind releases to
the Bell System. But most
significantly, its success demon¬
strated, without a doubt, the
market potential of UNIX
software.

The success of System III also
brought its share of problems, not

the least of which was the extra

strain it put on the resources of
Patent Licensing. The licensing
process was still a legal one that
required, in the opinion of many
AT&T customers and AT&T
officials, an extraordinary length
of time. Licensing delays were
creating a lengthy backlog of un¬
fulfilled requests. Delay had
always been a hallmark of UNIX
software licensing, but consider¬
ing the resources devoted to the
effort, it had always been
manageable. The licensing of
System III rapidly became
unmanageable.

On the software front. System
III represented a good first step in
the right direction, but there was
still much to be done before the
software could be considered a
product. For all its merits, System
III still lacked many commercial
features that licensees were
demanding.

In the meantime, renewed
antitrust action signaled a fun¬
damental shift in AT&T’s thinking
about its traditional business role.
The time had come to seriously
evaluate the company’s potential
as a software vendor. In January,
1983, just a few weeks after the
announcement of the proposed
Modified Final Judgement that
would bring about the dissolution
of the Bell System, AT&T formally
announced its intentions in the
software business by releasing
UNIX System V, complete with
training and technical support. It
also pledged its commitment to
UNIX System V as the foundation
of AT&T’s future development
efforts.

To achieve that charter,
AT&T set up Software Systems as
a “sub-business” under the Com¬
puter Systems Division. The first
organization under that new
structure was the Software Sales
and Marketing organization,
whose responsibility it would be to
make the transition from a licens¬
ing organization to a customer-

50 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

oriented sales organization. The
licensing of AT&T’s other soft¬
ware, which had, by necessity,
taken a back seat to UNIX soft¬
ware, remained with the Patent
Licensing organization.

The first item on the agenda
of the new organization was to
reduce the enormous backlog of
pending requests. Within six
months, the backlog had been
reduced from more than 200 to
less than a handful by carefully
restructuring the effort to scale
down the need for extensive legal
review, by cutting out unneces¬
sary paperwork, and by institut¬
ing standard agreements that
could be easily adapted for any
UNIX software product. As a
result, average turnaround time
for processing agreements was
reduced from four weeks to one.

A second major objective was
to rebuild relationships with those
licensees who offered products
based on AT&T software. To¬
wards that end, a new, more flex¬
ible royalty schedule was offered
to more adequately reflect the
reality of the microcomputer
marketplace. An on-going com¬
munications program was also
established and a visitation pro¬
gram was implemented.

In addition, a variety of add-on
products are currently being of¬
fered, and many of the commer¬
cial features so long requested by
commercial resellers are being im¬
plemented. Perhaps most impor¬
tantly, the future direction of
AT&T’s development effort has
been documented, providing a
blueprint for those who will follow
AT&T’s lead with UNIX System V.

There is still too much to be
done to close the book on the
UNIX system’s business history.
But much of the remaining story
will be written under the influence
of a new corporate culture — one
characterized by a business com¬
mitment to the company’s
custodial role. There will also be a
number of contributing authors —
other vendors, who like AT&T,
have grown to recognize the
potential of the UNIX system.

Otis Wilson is the manager of
AT&T Technology System's soft¬
ware sales and marketing efforts.
His contributions were key to the
design of AT&T's current licensing
structure and his leadership is still
central to its implementation. Mr.
Wilson is also a member of the UNIX
REVIEW Editorial Board. ■

SYSTEM V

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€>1984 AT&T Technologies, Inc.

The advent of 32-bit micro¬
processors and 64K RAM chips
has made graphics workstations
a viable and growing way of
using computers. Coming jumps
in microprocessor power and
memory density can only increase
this trend.

Several vendors are now pro¬
ducing UNIX-based graphics
workstations. These products
generally provide a very pleasant
UNIX environment. The question,
however, is whether the advan¬
tages of current and future work¬
stations can be fully utilized under
UNIX.

WHAT IS A WORKSTATION?

First, let’s decide what we
mean by a UNIX graphics
workstation. Start with a graphics
terminal: you find a keyboard, a
high resolution screen, and com¬
munications. Speed up the screen
and the communications, add a
processor, some memory, and
some software, and you have a
graphics workstation.

Note, however, that not all
workstations are exactly alike.
Some have increased processing
power, in either general or special-
purpose forms. Others have
higher resolution screens, and/or
exotic I/O devices. Laboratory ver¬
sions may have real-time I/O
capabilities.

Workstations may have local
storage or I/O facilities, but they
generally rely on local area net¬
works to provide at least part of
these services. They may also call
upon the network for computing
resources, but they do most pro¬
cessing independently. Thus,
Morris’s law of personal com¬
puting applies: “Even when you
go in at night, it’s still slow.”

Graphics workstations tend to
have bitmapped screens, mice
or other pointing devices, as
well as software for graphics and
window management. Since these
features are simultaneously get¬
ting cheaper and more popular,
we can expect them to be¬
come very common on future
workstations.

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HOW ARE WORKSTATIONS
USED?

Graphics workstations are
capable of being used effectively
in a variety of applications. Their
current applications tend, however,
to be limited to the scientific,
engineering, and software devel¬
opment arenas.

Scientists can use arbitrarily
large amounts of computing
power, and have been using
graphics for ages. Scientific com¬
puting resources of the last decade
or so have typically been
timeshared mainframes or super¬
minis. A set of terminals, some
graphic, have typically been
attached.

This makes a reasonably nice
environment — except for one
slight problem. Between two and
five in the afternoon, the system
hits a brick wall. Most scientific in¬
stitutions cannot afford to provide
a supermini for each worker. The
advent of the supermicro-based
workstation is thus a timely event
for the scientific community.

Engineers also use large
amounts of computer power when
they perform modelling or other
analytic work. They, too, have
adopted the workstation, but for
a different compelling reason.
The workstation serves as the
engineer's mechanized pencil and
pad.

A slew of workstation-based
Computer Aided Design/Com¬
puter Aided Engineering (CAD/
CAE) systems have appeared
during the last few years.
These systems allow an engineer
to make drawings, simulate the
object(s) in question, and even
produce manufacturing specifica¬
tions. The complexity of today’s
designs, coupled with the cost of
errors, makes these systems very
attractive indeed.

The software development
community is starting to use
workstations because they in¬
crease productivity. Windowing
systems allow a programmer to
edit a program in one window,
test it in a second, and monitor
performance data in a third.

In addition, increasingly so¬
phisticated software is becoming
available to support programming
on workstations. Much of this soft¬
ware will work only poorly, if at
all, on traditional terminals. As
this software proves its worth to
software developers, programmers
will find a compelling reason to
switch to workstations.

Finally, we can expect the
business community to adopt
workstations as price/perform¬
ance ratios come down. Many of
the features which make worksta¬
tions attractive to other communi¬
ties are relevant to business as
well. At over $10,000 apiece, how¬
ever, they are still too expensive
for typical business use.

HOW DOES UNIX FIT IN?

UNIX has a strong toehold in
the workstation arena for a varie¬
ty of reasons. First, it lets vendors
concentrate on workstation hard¬
ware and software issues, ignoring
operating system design. Next, it
allows users to mix various
workstations and other processors
on a single network. Finally, it pro¬
vides a (somewhat) standardized
software environment for worksta¬
tion applications development.

Some of the more interesting
workstation designs, however,
still emerge from non-UNIX en¬
vironments. The current breed of
bitmapped workstations did not,
in fact, originate in or for the UNIX
environment. Instead, it came
from research laboratories such as
Xerox PARC, where it was used as
part of the Smalltalk development
effort. Many of the most powerful
and friendly workstation user in¬
terface features are still missing
from the UNIX arena.

Some would even say that
UNIX, due to its pedestrian
origins, is ill-suited for use in a
workstation environment. The
question, then, is whether and
how UNIX can be adapted to take
advantage of the coming flood of
workstations.

THE BASIC HARDWARE

The Carnegie-Mellon Univer¬
sity (CMU) standard for worksta¬

tions has been said to be a million
instructions per second (1 MIPS),
a million pixels, and a megabyte
(1 MB) or more of memory. Of late,
the folks at CMU and elsewhere
seem to say that 2 MB of RAM is
really the lower limit. This could
be a description of a Sun Micro¬
systems workstation, save that a
Motorola 68010 is not quite a 1
MIPS processor.

Given that benchmarking is a
somewhat arcane art, speed
ratings are a bit suspect. Still, the
68020 and other full 32-bit pro¬
cessor chips are on the way, and

wm&mwm

they will be faster than the current
chips. Of course, this speed in¬
crease will create a demand for
still more memory.

Fortunately, the 256K RAM
chips are now starting to become
available in production quantities,
and their prices will soon start
to drop. The desired amount of
memory in workstations will in¬
crease to meet these events. We
can thus expect to see worksta¬
tions with 4-8 MB of RAM becom¬
ing quite common over the next
few years.

Disk storage is more prob¬
lematic. A 4.2 BSD system
requires over 30 MB of disk just for
binaries. Manuals consume still
more disk. Add 16 MB for paging
space and 4 MB for miscellaneous
files, and you’ve used up over 50
MB in overhead alone. A minimum
of 100 MB of formatted disk

storage is therefore reasonable for
comfortable use.

Networked disk farms can
provide cost-effective mass
storage for workstations. They can
also cut down on the amount of
duplicate storage required for
system files and such. Primarily,
however, their benefit lies in
allowing members of a project to
share critical data quickly and
easily.

There is a simple reason for
this. Only so many diskless
workstations can page and access
files over a network. The chief bot¬
tleneck currently lies in the
fileservers. The network itself will
run out of steam eventually,
however.

The performance degradation
caused by such an overload is
severe. The solution, fortunately,
is simple. Each workstation can
retain a modicum of local disk for
paging, frequently used files,
caching, and the like. This
reduces network traffic while re¬
taining access to communal disk
storage.

NETWORKING

Workstations can be useful
with or without networking, but
they are generally designed to
work well within a network.
Convenience and speed of data
sharing are reasons, but there is a
more pressing factor involved. As
the costs of system resources are
spread over a network, the cost
effectiveness of the associated
workstations goes up dramatically.

A computer system requires
mass storage, which is not cost-
effective in small quantities. A
tape drive or something of the sort
is also necessary, even though it
may be used only sporadically by
any given user. Finally, options
such as laser printers are often un¬
justifiable unless they can be
shared by a number of users. Net¬
works can clearly pay their way.

The choice of which network
to use is not at all obvious,
however. AT&T^has announced
3Bnet, a snazzy new proprietary
product. Other such products are
available now, with more to come.

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 53

FUTURE WORKSTATIONS

Given that proprietary networks
are about as useful as proprietary
wall socket designs, one wonders
why they bother.

AT&T may be an exception,
however, as may IBM. When and
if IBM settles on (as opposed to flir¬
ting with) a method for UNIX net¬
working, a de facto standard will
have been created. The PC-AT has
a low-speed networking hack, and
we can only wait to see if it sticks
around.

Meanwhile, out in cloudland,
we have the ISO network model.
Everybody says they will be hap¬
py to conform to it, just as soon as
they know what it is. This is not
too useful to someone needing a
network today, however.

Fortunately, there is an
available non-proprietary stan¬
dard for linking UNIX worksta¬
tions. It is available from all the
4.2 BSD UNIX vendors, and AT&T
will support it soon (trust me). The
Transmission Control Protocol /
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), spon¬
sored by the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DAR-
PA), is the current de facto UNIX
standard.

TCP/IP runs on a variety of
operating systems, not just UNIX.
It can use a variety of communica¬
tions media, not just Ethernet. It
is layered, much like the ISO
model, allowing new technologies
and techniques to be grafted on.

What’s more, it works—as
demonstrated at last Summer’s
Usenix Conference. The trade
show featured an ad hoc multi¬
vendor Ethernet. People logged in
remotely, copied files, and in
general had a splendid time.

DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEMS

Remote login (rlogin) and
remote copy (rep) aren’t the ideal
networking model, however. We
really want networks to act as if
they were just a funny kind of
mainframe. That is, it would be
nice if we could write programs
and run them without worrying

about the exact whereabouts of
the data they draw from.

Now it is true that some pro¬
prietary distributed file systems
have been developed. Fine, but
this, too, is about as useful as pro¬
prietary wall sockets. What we
want is the ability to share file
systems not only among different
computers, but even among dif¬
ferent operating systems.

It would be even nicer if this
were layered onto TCP/IP so that
it would gain from the portability

Note that not all
workstations are
exactly alike.

of that protocol. Finally, we might
ask that the system not attempt
to provide all services to all
customers. Any attempt to impose
such complete solutions would
clearly fail over time.

A flexible file system with the
sort of portability discussed here
has been developed by Sun
Microsystems. What a vision of
Joy! (Sorry.) Its protocols, based
on a remote procedure call tech¬
nique, are being publicly released.
One can only hope that AT&T and
the other vendors will look at the
proposals like Sun very carefully.

PICK DEVICES

Since keyboards are virtually
useless as graphic input devices,
any number of pointing or “pick”
devices have emerged. Touch
screens, verniers, bit pads, track
balls, 3-D digitizers, and other
pick devices are examples of this
diversity. Each device has a range
of applications it excels at.

Touch screens are very useful
in many process control applica¬

tions. Verniers provide a conven¬
ient way of setting and adjusting
values. Bit pads seem to work very
well in sketching applications.
Track balls are very fast, accurate,
and require little surface area.

Dr. Greg Chesson reports that
Silicon Graphics has used a vari¬
ety of graphics input devices with
its Iris workstation, including
joysticks, tablets, and a 3-D digi¬
tizer. In short, these devices will
continue to be used in situations
where a particular characteristic is
needed.

The mouse is the clear winner
at this time, however, for a
number of reasons. It is cheap,
easy to use, versatile, reliable, and
has reasonable speed and resolu¬
tion. The mouse is thus here to
stay, at least until a better alter¬
native appears.

AUDIO INPUT AND OUTPUT

Audio I/O is conspicuously ab¬
sent on today’s UNIX worksta¬
tions. It seems ironic that one has
to use a personal computer to play
with audible cues and voice
recognition. Some older machines
used to tell how hard they were
working by means of their console
speakers. Many of today’s
workstations don’t even have an
audible bell.

This situation seems likely to
continue for some time. Voice
recognition is hard, requiring Ar¬
tificial Intelligence (AI) techniques
and lots of computing horsepower.
It won’t show up on workstations
itil it becomes easier.

Audio output is also prob¬
lematic. Most office workers
treasure what silence is available,
and do not want their worksta¬
tions to sound like video games.
In any case, cues that are available
through audio can generally be
made (almost) equally well on a
screen.

A possible exception to this
trend may emerge from the com¬
mercial workstation marketplace.
There is an accelerating move

54 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

...puts your
IBM Series/rahead
of the pack!

Photographer - Michael Zagaris • UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories

• SERIX is a trademark of CMI Corporation • SERIX was developed exclusively
for CMI by COSI. • IBM, Series/1, and EDX are trademarks of International
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FUTURE WORKSTATIONS

towards combining data and voice
in private telephone systems. A
few vendors are experimenting
with very intelligent telephones,
telephone equipped workstations,
voice mail, and so forth. If this
catches on, the general purpose
workstation vendors will be forced
to provide the necessary audio
interfaces.

VIDEO INPUT

A few vendors are selling sub¬
systems for digitizing pictorial
information. Other vendors have
video subsystems designed for
data acquisition, robotics, and
such. Experimental systems have
even been designed that watch
users’ eyes to get cues about what
they are watching.

In general, however, the im¬
mediate prospects for video input
on workstations are pretty slim,
with one possible exception.
There is a lot of pressure for get¬
ting rid of the piles of paper that
infest the typical office. If an
economical scanning device were
to show up, particularly with
some general and efficient
character recognition software,
this market could explode
overnight.

COLOR DISPLAYS

It seems to be very difficult to
make good color workstations.
Both storage and bandwidth re¬
quirements increase markedly
when a workstation attempts to
produce full color. The million pix¬
els, only one bit each on a b/w
unit, become a byte or more
apiece on a color unit. Color
workstations thus require mega¬
bytes of fast RAM for display
memory.

There is also the problem of
achieving satisfactory text
display. We like to see nice sharp
letters on displays, and most
color workstations do this poorly.

This is primarily a problem of
color CRT monitor design. Each

color pixel is formed by a triad
of dots. These must be placed so
as to cover the same spot on the
screen. The difficulty of achieving
this convergence goes up dra¬
matically with the desired screen
resolution.

Other factors are also in¬
volved, however. The Sun 160,
which has 900 x 1152 resolution,
is a magnificent color graphics
display, but gets just a bit fuzzy on
text. According to James Gosling
of Sun, this could be substantial¬
ly improved by using anti-aliased
fonts and other techniques that

Proprietary
networks are about
as useful as
proprietary wall
socket designs.

take better advantage of the 160’s
gray scale.

Unfortunately, these tech¬
niques are both tricky and
expensive in terms of computing
resources. This is not to say that
Sun and other vendors won’t use
them, but nobody seems to be
using them at present.

TEXT EDITING

The text editor is one of the
most important programs on any
interactive system, simply from
the amount of use it gets. The de
facto standard UNIX screen editor
is vi, but nobody seems to be
really happy with it.

UNIX drastically needs, and
does not have, a simple and
powerful bitmapped editor. A
“What you see is what you get”

(WYSIWYG) editing system is
quite possible on a graphics
workstation. Such a system allows
the user to get immediate feed¬
back on a given formatting
decision.

Unfortunately, the WYSIWYG
systems developed to date do not
have the power and flexibility of
the UNIX vi and nroff combina¬
tion. A skilled UNIX user can
make global changes to the con¬
tent and/or the format of a docu¬
ment by invoking appropriate
mysterious commands. One
might hope that someone would
produce an equally powerful but
far simpler WYSIWYG editor.

The closest approximation
currently on the market seems to
be the Interleaf system. Unfor¬
tunately, its several thousand
dollar price tag puts it out of reach
for most editing applications.
Time should solve this problem
eventually, however, since a
market for such an editor clearly
exists.

One might also wish for
syntax-sensitive editing, which
would allow the editor to tell the
user when a syntax error has been
made. An editor might also assist
in the editing process, supplying
editable models for desired syntac¬
tic structures.

Several such editors have
been developed as research pro¬
jects, and some are even becom¬
ing available on UNIX systems. A
caveat, though, is perhaps in
order. Users must be able to ex¬
pand such an editor’s repertoire at
any time. Extensibility and
modifiability are thus critical in
this kind of editor.

THE WINDOW MODEL

UNIX started out as an
interactive system, but its design
never contemplated bitmapped
workstations. Most UNIX work¬
stations treat the screen as a
collection of windows, with each
window simulating a quasi-

56 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

independent terminal. A number
of system calls are generally
provided to allow both text and
graphic use of windows.

The design of window
management systems is still an
active research area, however.
Vendors have been forced to pro¬
duce and support libraries in an
area where the “correct” solutions
are not known. Many CAD
designers and other users have
found it expedient to code for a
“lowest common denominator”
graphics interface, often avoiding
use of the windowing system
altogether.

The best solutions to the win¬
dow management problem will
probably come as a result of
a change in implementation
languages. This is a somewhat

radical notion, given the historic
association of UNIX and C. While
UNIX supports a variety of
languages, C has always been a bit
more equal than the others.

It is thus interesting to find
heavy-duty UNIX hackers such as
Bill Joy talking about supporting
languages such as Ada and
Modula-2. It is also interesting that
the designers of workstation inter¬
face libraries are looking at a varie¬
ty of object-oriented hacks to C, as
well as at other languages entirely.

C is a very powerful and ver¬
satile language, and it is not like¬
ly to disappear soon, if at all. We
may well see it expanded or even
supplanted, however, as hackers
struggle to add flexible network¬
ing, workstation interfaces, and AI
features to UNIX.

Dr. Greg Chesson

UNIX REVIEW gratefully
acknowledges the contribution of
the following four experts to the
preparation of this article. The
four participated in a roundtable
interview conducted by Richard
Morin that served as the basis for
the piece.

Dr. Greg Chesson serves on
the Editorial Review Board of UNIX
REVIEW and works as a Senior
Scientist at Silicon Graphics, Inc.,
in Mountain View, CA. While at
Bell Laboratories, Dr. Chesson
developed the packet driver pro¬
tocol used by UUCP and the mpx
files in the Seventh Edition of
UNIX. He also developed original
protocols and software implemen¬
tations for the Datakit network.

Dr. James Gosling

At Silicon Graphics, he has imple¬
mented XNS and other network
protocols.

Gene Dronek sits on both
UNIX REVIEW'S Editorial Review
and Hardware Review Boards. He
is the author of the standard
benchmarking package for UNIX
systems, the Aim Benchmark
suite. Formerly, he served as the
lead UNIX consultant at UC
Berkeley.

Canadian-born Dr. Jaimes Gos¬
ling has been a UNIX hacker since
the mid-70’s when he worked with
Version E on a PDP-11/40. Having
formerly served on the IBM/
Carnegie-Mellon University joint
workstation development project,
he currently works for Sun

Gene Dronek

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The sophisticated user inter¬
face features found on AI worksta¬
tions are, in general, conspicuous¬
ly absent from current UNIX
workstation implementations.
Some of these could conceivably
be grafted onto UNIX worksta¬
tions. Others are dependent on the
single language environments in
which they currently reside.

The Smalltalk browser and
Interlisp Masterscope facilities
are powerful tools for finding one’s
way around large bodies of text.
They can be thought of as in¬
telligent editing systems, with the
ability to move gracefully among
all files referencing a given item.
There are currently no UNIX

Continued to Page 124

Ron Gremban

Microsystems in Mountain View,
CA. He has built a multiprocessor
version of Version 7, an emacs
editor for UNIX systems, and an
assortment of graphics systems.

Ron Gremban is presently a
software consultant, doing work
in Smalltalk for the organization
that originally developed it, the
Xerox PARC System Concepts
Lab. A graduate of Caltech, he has
worked for Tektronix and as an
Engineering Manager for Kontron
Electronics, where he was in¬
volved in the development of
UNIX and CP/M-based micro¬
processor development systems,
as well as the development of
microcomputers and logic
analyzers.

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 57

PUTTING UNIX

PERSPECTIVE

An interview with Victor Vyssotsky

You may have heard that
before there was UNIX, there was
Multics . But what came before
Multics? And if Multics and a
number of other operating
systems already existed, why was
UNIX created?

To trace the development of
UNIX, it's appropriate not only to
cite places and dates but also to
consider that UNIX came out of a
greater process of research — a
process in which Victor Vyssotsky
was very much a key player.

Vyssotsky’s years at AT&T
Bell Laboratories overlap the
years of UNIX growth. From the

days when he was in charge of Bell
Labs’ portion of the joint Multics
project to his present position
as Executive Director of Research
in the Labs’ Information Sciences
Division, he has had an oppor¬
tunity to develop a perspective
we wanted to probe . We asked
Ned Peirce, a Systems Analyst at
Bell Labs and a Contributing
Editor for UNIX REVIEW, to pose
the questions .

REVIEW: The UNIX community
continues to be fascinated with
what started Ritchie and Thomp¬
son thinking about the things that

later became known as UNIX. I’d
like to learn about your involve¬
ment in Multics and hear your
impressions of those early days ,
perhaps even those before you
were associated with Ritchie and
Thompson. Vd also like to get your
thoughts on current directions in
UNIX.

VYSSOTSKY: Well to begin with,
the interest in operating systems
at Bell Laboratories goes all the
way back to late 1957 when
George Mealy and Gwen Hansen
produced the first of a succession
of versions of what was called the
BESYS operating system for the
IBM 700 - 7000 series. There was
a BESYS I but it was never used
for evolutionary reasons. The first
home-grown operating system
that actually came into use was
BESYS II, which was run on in-
house IBM 704s starting in March
of 1958. The reason we had a
home-grown system to begin with,
of course, was that in March of
1958 you couldn’t get an
operating system from a vendor.
If you wanted an operating
system, you built your own or got
one from a friend. We couldn’t find
any friends who had operating
systems we regarded as satisfac¬
tory for our purposes, so Mealy
and Hansen built one. It was not
the world’s first operating system
but it was certainly one of the very
early ones.

REVIEW: What was the appli¬
cation?

VYSSOTSKY: General purpose
computing and comp center sup¬
port. We were running pure batch
processing at that time, of course.
But we were running a wide range
of applications for a variety of
users — mostly short jobs. We just
couldn’t take the time to get them
on and off the machine manually.
We needed an operating system to
sequence jobs through and control
machine resources.

The sequence of evolving
BESYS systems went up through
BESYS VII. Several of them were
used fairly widely outside of Bell
Laboratories. People simply took
them. You know — you gave them
to friends.

REVIEW: That's very similar to
what later happened to UNIX.

VYSSOTSKY: Right.

REVIEW: There was no support?

VYSSOTSKY: No, there was no sup¬
port. When we shipped a BESYS
tape to somebody, we would

If you wanted an
operating system,
you built your own
or got one from a
friend.

answer reasonable questions over
the telephone. If they found
troubles or we found troubles, we
would provide fixes.

That world came to an end
with the advent of third genera¬
tion equipment in 1964. We had
a decision to make in 1964 and
’65. Were we going to go to a ven¬
dor operating system, have one
built, or build one ourselves?
Through a rather murky process
of internal deliberation, we decid¬
ed to join forces with General Elec¬
tric and MIT to create Multics. Our
intention was to use the Multics
operating system as a mainstay
for Bell Laboratories’ internal ser¬
vice computing in precisely the
way that we had used the BESYS
operating system.

REVIEW: That was the only model
you had!

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. It turned out
that from our point of view the
Multics effort simply went awry.
In the first place, we were naive
about how hard it was going to be
to create an operating system as
ambitious as Multics. It was the
familiar second system syndrome.
You put in everything you wished
you’d had in the other one.

REVIEW: And later discover that it
was ridiculously difficult to do?

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. Furthermore,

although at the outset it had
seemed that the objectives of Bell
Labs, MIT, and General Electric
were consistent with one another
because we could agree on a com¬
mon definition of the product, it
turned out that our objectives
were really not all that consistent.
What MIT was interested in was
advancing the state of the art in
operating systems.

REVIEW: Which you were slightly
interested in?

VYSSOTSKY: Which we were
somewhat interested in. Our
primary objective was to have a
suitable programming and execu¬
tion environment for the work of
the engineers, scientists, and com¬
puting people in Bell Laboratories.
What General Electric was
primarily interested in, of course,
was having a state-of-the-art
operating system for their
products.

So, we had three sets of
motivations: MIT’s motivation to
advance the state-of-the-art, Bell
Labs’ motivation to have a good
environment for our people to
work in, and GE’s motivation to
strengthen its product line.

It turned out that under the
stress of slipping schedules and
the increasing realization that we
had difficulty agreeing on a com¬
mon course of action, we ended up
simply pulling out of Multics. We
said, “OK, it’s too wet to plow. We
aren’t going to get from here to
there.”

REVIEW: What stage was the pro¬
ject in at that point?

VYSSOTSKY: Multics was limping.
We actually had, I guess you
would call it, a precursor of Mul¬
tics running here on a GE 645.
From the point of view of the few
people who could use it, it was
a very nice programming en¬
vironment. In particular, Ken
Thompson thought it was a very
nice programming environment.
When we pulled out of Multics, we
simply took it off our machines
and put up GECOS instead.

GECOS was not nearly as nice
an environment from Ken’s point
of view as even the limping
Multics had been. But if you were

VYSSOTSKY

INTERVIEW

an old line Spanish-American War
type computer user like me,
GECOS was a perfectly satisfac¬
tory system for getting from here
to there on a well-defined applica¬
tion. You knew what it was going
to do. It was nowhere near as
satisfactory if you were trying to
do things that were technically dif¬
ficult and imperfectly defined,
which is the main task of research.
This is the reason Ken Thompson
and many others felt that GECOS
wasn’t satisfactory. It is also the
reason incidentally, why I had
been so interested in something
like Multics in the first place.
Although I say GECOS was a good
system, it was good provided you
were doing a reasonably
straightforward application.
REVIEW: So you wanted a more
flexible system?

VYSSOTSKY: I wanted a much
more flexible system than BESYS
or GECOS or OS360 or anything
I could see. I had various things
that I was trying to do with com¬
puters that were just plain hard to
do with existing operating
systems. That is not a criticism of
OS360 or GECOS. These were
good mainstream systems for
what they were intended for.

Moreover, for people like Ken
Thompson, having this em¬
bryonic version of Multics taken
away and GECOS slapped down in
its place was something of a
disaster. Suddenly they were back
to square one.

REVIEW: They had been

benefiting from all the people
working on Multics . Were Thomp¬
son and Ritchie also working on
the Multics project?

VYSSOTSKY: Neither Ken nor
Dennis regarded himself as a
mainstream member of the
Multics endeavor. They con¬
tributed things, though Ken work¬
ed on at least one version of the
Multics editor. Dennis worked on
a version of Multics I/O. But I don’t

think, for example, that you will
find either of their names on any
of the significant papers that came
out of the Multics experience.
They were around the effort but

It was the familiar
second system
syndrome. You put
in everything you
wished you'd had
in the other one.

Multics was not their main in¬
terest. I don’t think that either of
them was particularly fascinated
by operating systems until they
found themselves cast back upon
GECOS. They sort of got inter¬
ested in the subject out of self
defense.

My recollection is that neither
of them wanted to do an operating
system for its own sake so much
as they just wanted to get their
research done. When Multics went
away, they did something. You

know, they didn’t just sit around
and cry. Still, they did not regard
the GECOS environment as satis¬
factory from their point of view.

After a while, Ken got the use
of a semi-orphaned PDP-7, which
at that time sat up in the attic at
Murray Hill.

REVIEW: How big a machine was
the 7?

VYSSOTSKY: Tiny. I don’t
remember how fast it was or how
much memory it had, but it was
a machine more nearly in the
class of a Commodore 64 than the
class of a PC-AT. Its chief virtue
was that it was available. Ken
started putting together an en¬
vironment. The very first thing he
ran on it was a space travel game.

He and Dennis and a few
others gradually started tinkering
and adding to this thing. The two
most active contributors at that
stage were Joe Ossanna and Rudd
Canaday. I should also add that
Doug Mcllroy was tremendously
influential on their thinking. I
don’t think that Doug actually
contributed much of the program¬
ming, but for example, the ap¬
pearance of pipes in UNIX was
clearly a result of Doug’s discus¬
sions with Ken and Dennis. Den¬
nis actually put them in as I recall,
but it was Mcllroy who said,
“Look, you ought to do it.’’ Pipes,
like most things in UNIX, were not
a radically new idea. Co-routines
had, after all, shown up in
SIMULA by the end of 1967.
REVIEW: You mentioned that in
the design stages of Multics things
got rather complicated. Do you
think this complexity had much
effect on Ritchie and Thompson ’s
elegant design of UNIX?
VYSSOTSKY: I would say it dif¬
ferently, I would say that the
greatest intellectual achievement
embedded in UNIX is the success
Ken Thompson and Dennis Rit¬
chie had in understanding how
much you could leave out of an

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VYSSOTSKY INTERVIEW

operating system without impair¬
ing its capability. To some extent,
that was forced by the fact that
they were running on small
machines. It may also have been
a reaction to the complexity of
Multics, but more than anything
else, I would say, it was simply a
manifestation of how good those
two guys are when they set their
minds to thinking about
something.

Multics was simply more com¬
plicated than it needed to be, but
I certainly didn’t realize that at
the time. I only knew it was
complicated.

REVIEW: Do you think UNIX has
fulfilled the vision of Multics?

VYSSOTSKY: You can still find
many people who will point out
that Multics is in various respects
more capable and actually
superior to UNIX.

REVIEW: In ways that cannot be
added on to UNIX as an
application?

VYSSOTSKY: For example,

embedded in Multics are security
features which are necessarily
part of the architecture of a
system. You do not get the
simplification of UNIX for free but
you lose very little. That was what
we didn’t realize in 1965. A lot of
the stuff we were doing had
passed over the shoulder of
diminishing returns. I’ll give you
a trivial example. I was startled in
the early days of UNIX when I
realized that UNIX as an operating
system was incapable of doing
binary-to-decimal conversion. I
had never seen an operating
system that didn’t do binary-to-
decimal conversion and I took it
for granted that every operating
system had to include binary-to-
decimal conversion. It took a bit of
thinking and a bit of direction
from Ken and Dennis to realize
that they were right and that an
operating system does not, in fact,
have to do binary-to-decimal con¬

version. That’s a utility function
that can sit way up in the hierar¬
chy of software.

REVIEW: To be used when
needed.

VYSSOTSKY: Now that’s a trivial
example, but there was all sorts of
stuff that people put into operating
systems believing that otherwise
they wouldn’t be good. It took
some very clear thinking on the

Multics was simply
more complicated
than it needed to
be, but I certainly
didn't realize that
at the time.

part of the creators of UNIX to
realize that most of that stuff
didn’t have anything to do with
the operating system and didn’t
have to be included.

REVIEW: So Multics had a large
multipurpose kernel like OS and
all the others?

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. That’s an obser¬
vation that looks like old hat now,
but in 1969, it was new stuff.

REVIEW: Is there any event that
you feel was particularly impor¬
tant to the development of UNIX?

VYSSOTSKY: There is one piece of
history that I think is very impor¬
tant to understand. When UNIX
evolved within Bell Laboratories,
it was not a result of some
deliberate management initiative.
It spread through channels of
technical need and technical
contact.

The first version that was

fairly widely used outside of the
research area of Bell Laboratories
was propagated largely through a
group called USG in Berkley
Tague’s department.

The Programmers Work¬
bench and the PWB version of
UNIX was created in Rudd
Canaday’s department when
Rudd was at Piscataway. That
work started in about 1973 and
came to fruition in about 1975.
Rudd had been one of the original
contributors of ideas to UNIX
when he was here in computing
research. Three of the other con¬
tributors to the PWB and PWB/
UNIX were Ted Dolotta, Evan I vie
and Dick Haight. Both had spent
periods of years in computing
science research.

The PWB version of UNIX was
created when I was at Piscataway.
It was done in my organization
and I recall being somewhat
doubtful about the whole thing.

REVIEW: What were your
concerns?

VYSSOTSKY: The objective of
Canaday’s department was to pro¬
vide an improved programming
environment for large software
development in Piscataway. At
the time that they started work on
PWB/UNIX, UNIX as it then ex¬
isted was rather fragile, somewhat
limited in its capabilities, and
unable to handle much in the way
of load. I was working in a shop
where we had very large applica¬
tions and it wasn’t clear that the
source files for a major application
could be made to fit into a UNIX
system. On the other hand, it was
well known that the frequency
with which UNIX lost files or did
similarly calamitous things was
high.

REVIEW: All too well known.

VYSSOTSKY: It just wasn’t clear
that you could base a program¬
ming environment for production
programming on UNIX. Recall,
this was 1973 when we were

62 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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VYSSOTSKY INTERVIEW

engaged in discussions about
whether or not UNIX was a sensi¬
ble direction to head in. I was kind
of queasy about the whole thing
but I figured Canaday was paying
those guys to have great sense, so
1 backed them up. Afterwards, I
was awfully glad I had.

REVIEW: How long afterwards
were you glad?

VYSSOTSKY: [laugh] Two years. It
took them about two years before
they could actually provide a
realistic production programming
environment for groups like the
large programming shop at
Piscataway. They presented a set

UNIX was not
something that
would have
warmed the heart
of a senior EDP
manager.

of papers at a meeting in San
Francisco around 1975. At the
time those papers were presented,
we were actually using PWB/
UNIX as a vehicle for production
programming.

This was typical of the way
UNIX spread around Bell
Laboratories. You had MTSs,
Supervisors and Department
Heads saying we had to go in this
direction while Executive Direc¬
tors were saying, “Well, I’m awful
nervous about it. But if you guys
say that is what we’ve got to do,
I’ll back your play.”

REVIEW: It's probably pretty
unusual for you to give your peo¬
ple their head in that way.

VYSSOTSKY: [Contrite) It’s not all
that unusual. Bell Laboratories
works that way.

REVIEW: What about other
organiza tion s ?

VYSSOTSKY: There are a lot of
organizations that do not work
that way. I brought out that little
hunk of history to point out that
the spread and success of UNIX,
first in the Bell organizations and
then in the rest of the world, was
due to the fact that it was used,
modified, and tinkered up in a
whole variety of organizations
within Bell Laboratories.

All of the basic philosophy

and technical components were
there when Thompson and Rit¬
chie and their friends stepped out
of it. But, it was not something
that would have warmed the heart
of a senior EDP manager. It was
what I’ll call an “annealing” pro¬
cess that took place in the Bell
Labs development organizations
that turned UNIX into a viable
vehicle for the world at large. The
refinement of UNIX was not done
as the result of some management
initiative or council of vice
presidents. It was the supervisors
saying, “This thing is already bet¬
ter than our other options and
flexible enough for us to make it
go.”

REVIEW: How early was UNIX
tracked in development as a pro¬
duct? Was it a controlled product
right from the start?

VYSSOTSKY: It certainly was not a
controlled product initially. As late
as 1976, there were three different
versions of it in use within Bell
Laboratories that were supported
out of different places. There was
the USG that Berkley Tague was
supporting from here at Murray
Hill, there was the PWB version
that Canaday and friends were
supporting out of Piscataway,
and there was CB/UNIX which
was being supported out of Col¬
umbus [Ohio] and had better inter¬
process communicaton capability.
CB/UNIX was better adapted to
handling applications like the
switching control center applica¬
tions. It was not a real-time UNIX
per se. True real-time versions of
UNIX such as UNIX RTR didn’t
come along until later.

REVIEW: Were you using a soft¬
ware development tracking
system yet?

VYSSOTSKY: In 1976, there were
those three versions of UNIX. The
Change Control Process on all
three of those versions was such
that, at any moment in time, the
people who were programming
could tell what changes had got¬
ten in and what changes were
scheduled to go in. However, it
was still a little hard for the users
to tell what they were getting. It
wasn’t until about 1978 that we
had anything that I would con¬
sider to be a reasonable configura¬
tion management process for
UNIX. That was the point at which
we finally realized we had
something which, like it or not,
was a major product. So we said,
“Given that it is a major product,
there can be no horsing around.”
We could no longer regard it is
something in the underbrush.
We had to regularize our ar¬
rangements. We set up a process

64 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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/jplt*

m VYSSOTSKY INTERVIEW

for configuration management
and we focused the thing in the
direction of a coherent system.
This is how System V was formed.

REVIEW: Was the change in
management policy because of a
perception of future revenue
possibilities? Or, was it, “ We ha ve
this thing out there, so we should
control it or we are going to have
problems with a haphazard pro¬
duct”? Or, was it more like, “This
is useful but is it going to become
less so if the evolution is not
directed *'?

VYSSOTSKY: Some of all of those
things. But, perhaps the most im¬
portant one was that UNIX was
being used as the operating
system base for a bunch of opera¬
tions support systems in the Bell
Operating Companies and we
could not afford to let those sup¬
port systems go down.

We put configuration man¬
agement and all of the associated
paraphernalia in place about
1978.

REVIEW: It seems that more effort
is going into future planning now
and not just fixing up the old
code. Would you agree with that
perception?

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. Fixing bugs is
not all that big a deal. As far as
directing the future is concerned,
I think that is a big deal. When we
talk about UNIX, we tend to talk
as if operating systems had some
inherent importance in the eyes of
customers or users.

But operating systems from
my point of view are not so impor¬
tant in themselves as they are
important because they provide
people with an environment in
which to create applications. From
the point of view of the end user,
it is the application that is impor¬
tant. The thing that has made
UNIX so attractive is the fact that
it is a good environment in which
you can quickly get an application
up that works for the end user.

Future development becomes
an issue because UNIX is not, in
fact, as good as we would like for
creating certain types of applica¬
tions. UNIX is still wobbly around
the knees if you want to create a
transaction system that has to
handle a large complex database.
The worst aspect of that wob¬
bliness, at the moment, is the fact
that there is not yet a database
management capability in UNIX
systematic enough to allow one to

The thing that has
made UNIX so
attractive is the
fact that it is a
good environment
in which you can
quickly get an
application up.

create database administration
tools in any standard straight¬
forward way. The question of
whether one can put the database
into the system, so far as I’m
concerned, is a non-issue. I’ve con¬
vinced myself that one can take
essentially any arbitrary database
and put it into a UNIX system.

REVIEW: There are plenty of
examples.

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. The problem
comes up from the point of view of
the database administrator in the
field installation who has to be
able to control that database.
They have to keep it consistent,
update it, roll it back, recover it.
There is no standard set of tools.

Each application has to provide its
own set of tools for database
management.

REVIEW: Each with its own
learning curve?

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. We have to im¬
prove that situation. Similarly, the
proliferation of UNIX-like real-time
systems within AT&T indicates
that we still do not understand
real-time as well as we should.
REVIEW: Would you like to
regularize that also so that there
is a single operating system sup¬
porting real-time applications?

VYSSOTSKY: I would like to
understand real-time. We were
able to make UNIX converge in
the face of a diversity of evolu¬
tionary directions and the use of
at least three major versions.

The reason that incredible
spread occurred was not because
everyone insisted on going it alone
for their own reasons. It was
because people had slightly dif¬
ferent needs and at the time didn’t
see how to meet those various
needs with one version of the
operating system. By 1978, we
found that we could drive the
pieces back together.

REVIEW: But you didn't have to
force it together. You provided the
users with something that was
similar to what they had but
which was regularized.

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. I guess what I
am saying is that in real-time, I
perceive us as now in a situation
that is analogous to where we
were in the mid- 70s on UNIX
itself. That is, for example, when
I look at some applications using
ORYX/PECOS and others using
NRTX, it is quite clear that the
ones using NRTX couldn’t use
ORYX/PECOS and vice versa.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t
build a system with UNIX-like
features that would meet the
needs of that entire spectrum. It
just means that we haven’t

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VYSSOTSKY INTERVIEW

understood the applications needs
well enough to cause the con¬
vergence.

I think it’s an important thing
to try to do. Not just for the sake
of having one operating system. I
have no inherent objection to hav¬
ing multiple operating systems.
But, the fact that I can’t give a
coherent exposition of why we
have different real-time operating
systems in use for different ap¬
plications tells me that I don’t
understand the subject as well as
I should. And we need to under¬
stand that issue.

This is an area where I think
there needs to be an evolution of
UNIX-like systems. I say “UNIX-
like” because it is not clear to me
that “real-time” and “UNIX” are
synonymous.

Another area where the evolu¬
tion of UNIX-like systems needs to
proceed is distributed computing.

I think that research Edition 8,
with Dennis Ritchie’s new stream
I/O, may have actually gotten past
the biggest hurdle on distributed
computing. I’m not sure yet, but
it looks hopeful. Distributed com¬
puting is a subject we have been
worrying about for years. Maybe
five years from now, we will be
able to look back and say, “OK,
with research Edition 8, we’ve got
that one beat.” I hope so.

As yet, we don’t, from my
point of view, have a satisfactory
understanding of how to get full
capability out of a UNIX system on
a network which is running on a
very large, very fast machine. We
are bringing in a Cray computer in
1985 with one of the primary pur¬
poses being to attack exactly that
problem. Our local computing
environment here in research is
mostly a collection of fairly small
machines. But we have some
processor-intensive jobs that we
run in the comp center down¬
stairs.

REVIEW: You've been batching

them to the Cray?

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. we’ve been
batching them to the Cray though
RJE and it works — though not
satisfactorily from our point of
view. What we’d like to have is a
nice distributed computing en¬
vironment where, from the point
of view of the person sitting at the

Distributed
computing is a
subject we have
been worrying
about for years.

terminal, the only difference be¬
tween a Cray and a 3B2 is that the
Cray runs faster and has more
storage. We’re not there yet. That
is really quite a difficult issue.
Precisely because the Cray is so
fast, ‘impedance matching’ the
Cray to a network capability is
difficult.

REVIEW: What other areas of
development to you foresee?

VYSSOTSKY: We also need to get a
better generic of UNIX than we yet
have for the purpose of running on
very small machines, personal
computers, and things of that sort.
Recall that the very earliest ver¬
sion of UNIX ran on a machine so
small that nobody would even
consider it as a serious computer
today. But, over the years, UNIX
has grown and grown and gotten
more and more powerful, which is
great. Except that UNIX is pretty
slow and pretty clunky if you run
it on a machine as small as a PC
and there is no reason why it has
to be. It just is.

Part of the problem is that we

don't understand the structure of

UNIX and programs that run on
UNIX well enough to say, “Well,
what can peel back out of there to
get a nice small system that truly
looks like UNIX?”

REVIEW: You are not just talking
about stripping out commands?

You are talking about shrinking
the kernel?

VYSSOTSKY: That is exactly what
I am talking about. One still wants
multi-programming.

REVIEW: But you don't need to
run 100 processes .

VYSSOTSKY: Right, you don’t need
to run 100 processes. Look, it just
isn’t clear to me how to strip
things out in the right way. But,
it is clear that it must be possible
to do because the very early ver¬
sions of UNIX ran just fine on
teeny machines.

The reason that I think that’s
important is because what I want
to be able to do and what I think
a lot of people want to be able to
do is use a personal computer or
a workstation that is sometimes
pulled off a network for reasons,
like privacy reasons, but which is
often connected to a network.
While the operating system in the
small personal machine looks
completely consistent with the
operating system in the larger
distributed environment, it

70 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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INDUSTRY

INSIDER

Desktop computers and networks

by Mark G. Sobell

“What is a desktop com¬
puter?” and “Do desktop and
UNIX belong together?” were two
questions Jim Barclay, Software
Consulting Engineer in the UNIX
Engineering Group at DEC, raised
when I asked him about desktop
UNIX machines in the works at
DEC. Of course, he hastened to
assure me that DEC had all the
bases covered, noting that “the
Rainbow people are working on
UNIX with VenturCom and
Microsoft and we sell Ventur-
Com’s Venix for some of the
machines in our PRO series. But
the real value and original intent
of UNIX was resource sharing to
promote the easy movement of
thoughts, ideas, and software
chips that you can easily piece
together and share. By software
chips I don’t just mean the UNIX
utilities and shell scripts. I also
mean small, custom pieces of C
code that are dedicated to doing
one thing well.”

But what happens when you
use a desktop system? First off,
you end up having to move away
from your desk to share your work
with co-workers. Memos have to
be printed on paper and delivered
by inter-office mail, data becomes
harder to share, and everyone gets
more isolated.

“I am not a strong advocate of
single-user desktop computers,”
Barclay noted. “We need to be
bringing a department together —

not isolating its members.”

Tying powerful desktop PCs
together is one solution. But fre¬
quently the mechanism that ties
the computers together is cumber¬
some and, although theoretically
sound, does little to promote ac¬
tual team spirit within the
department.

“We also need to teach people
to properly use the tools they
already have,” Barclay lamented.
“My secretary just told me that
someone sent me a 48-page piece
of electronic mail. I’m afraid to
look at it. All I need to know is
where the document is and what
it’s about. Then I can decide what
I want to do with it — read it, copy
it to my system, or ignore it.”

In order to judge the effec¬
tiveness of any computer system
— desktop or otherwise — you
need to be able to measure its
effect on company productivity.

The ideal system would make
it easier for people to share
thoughts and ideas. It would tie
into much more than simply a net¬
work of UNIX systems; it would
also allow communication with
people using Macintosh machines,
programmers logged into cor¬
porate IBM mainframes, and R&D
types running UNIX on minis.

SUN'S NEW NETWORK
SOFTWARE

The Sun Network File System
(NFS) comes very close to pro¬
viding this sort of ideal system. It
encompasses a transparent file
system that spans a network. It
took me a while to understand just
how transparent it is when Beau
James, Product Manager at Sun
Systems, explained it to me.

Instead of needing to log onto
another system on the network to
read a file or needing to copy a file
to your system before reading it,
NFS makes remote file systems
appear as though they were ac¬
tually mounted on your local
computer.

Each administrator of a
system on the network designates
the local file systems that he or
she wants to make available to
other people on the network. The
system, called the server in this
case, exports the designated file
systems.

Each administrator also
decides which of the file systems

72 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

operated by other systems would
be useful on the local system. The
administrator can select from
available (exported) file systems
using Sun’s yellow pages , a collec¬
tion of network protocol and
associated programs for use on the
local system, it is called a client.
Once a client has mounted an
imported file system, you cannot
distinguish the newcomer from a
local file system. You can read
from, write to, modify, or delete
files in the file system as long as
the owner of the file has given you
the appropriate permissions.

Perhaps the most important
thing about Sun’s new network is
that it is not locked into UNIX.
It is the job of the NFS software
to make imported file systems
appear the same as local file

NFS makes remote
file systems appear
as though they
were actually
mounted on your
local computer.

systems, even when the imports
come from a different hardware/
software environment.

Because the ability to com¬
municate with other manufac¬

turers’ hardware and software is of
limited value unless the other
manufacturers support the NFS
standard, Sun would like to see its
network become the industry
standard. It hopes to ensure that
other companies adopt it by
publishing the protocol specifica¬
tions for the entire NFS system
and giving away source code for
all its portable parts (the parts
that are not operating system
dependent).

The NFS software dovetails
with another new Sun product,
the Sun-2/50 — a diskless node
that sells for under $10,000 and
features a high-resolution bitmap¬
ped screen, 1 MB of memory, a
CPU, an Ethernet interface, and
necessary software. With NFS
software, the diskless node can

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Circle No. 30 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 73

^INDUSTRY INSIDER

import file systems in such a way
that the user is unaware that the
local system doesn’t have a disk.

On other Sun fronts, it was
learned that Eastman Kodak just
invested $20 million in Sun and
now owns 7 percent of the com¬
pany. Sun has a $27 million line
of credit and had sales of $39
million for the year ending June
30. It doesn’t sound like Sun is a
candidate for the shakeout.

MORE NETWORKS

Another network software
package that is gaining momen¬
tum is Microsoft’s Networks. HP
has picked up the Networks for
use on its personal computers. HP
says Networks will run in conjunc¬

tion with HP AdvanceNet, its stan¬
dard networking protocol, to
enable all HP computer families to
talk to each other.

Another vote for Microsoft’s
Networks comes from Corvus
Systems, which announced it is
licensing the product for use with
its OMNINET network.

DESKTOP VENIX

Back on the desktop front, I
talked about Venix 2.0 with Gig
Graham, Executive Vice President
of VenturCom. The biggest ques¬
tions raised in my mind by Ven-
turCom’s efforts to put UNIX (or
Venix, VenturCom’s port of UNIX)
on a desktop machine without a
hard disk were: “Will it run fast

enough to be usable?” and “How
do you manage to fit all the UNIX
utilities and the user’s data on the
system?”

The latest release of Venix
helps alleviate the speed problem
with sticky memory, a capability
akin to the UNIX sticky bit that
keeps a program from getting
swapped off the swap disk. Sticky
memory keeps a program in
memory as long as another pro¬
gram doesn’t need the space. It is
implemented as a fifo list of pro¬
grams that always tries to hold the
most recently run programs in
memory.

As far as fitting UNIX onto a
floppy disk, Graham maintains
that the kernel and most in¬
dividual utilities are actually quite
small. (However, the entire Venix
system ships on 10 floppies.)
VenturCom’s solution to the pro¬
blem of fitting UNIX on a floppy-
based computer is to provide the
user with a system disk that in¬
cludes a subset of the utilities —
the user has full use of the second
disk for data and application pro¬
grams. This approach will be
satisfactory in environments
where the user only needs to use
as many programs as will fit on
the system disk (including the
kernel, swap area, device drivers,
and system files). It will be
tedious, however, to use the
system with more programs
because, unlike MS-DOS, you can¬
not just pop a disk out and insert
a new one. With a UNIX system,
you must unmount the disk,
remove it, insert the new disk, and
finally mount the new disk before
using it.

MORE PORTABLES

Venix is the UNIX that Data
General has selected for its DATA
GENERAL/One portable computer.
But, DG is not putting all its eggs
in the UNIX basket. It is also
pushing its “One” in other
markets. DG provides CPM-86,

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MS-DOS, LISP, and an Ada editor
for checking the syntax of Ada
programs. It also provides four
levels of service from five-day
mail-in to two-hour walk-in
service. The machine, which has
a full-sized screen, uses fast (150
ns) CMOS memory with no wait
states, an 80C88 processor (the
CMOS version of the 8088), and
can run 8-10 hours on one charge
of its batteries. DG even has a
battery-powered printer to go
along with the One.

Sharp Electronics is taking
another tack in speeding up its
portable/desktop UNIX system. It
is test marketing Venix on its
8088-based PC 5000 portable
computer and says that if Venix is
well received, it will be placed in
ROM to improve performance of

the system. That would rate as
quite a feat — if Sharp can pull it
off.

The approaches of both Ven-
turCom and Sharp are interesting
and unusual. It remains to be
seen, though, whether they are
viable, and if so, in what
environments.

SUMMARY

It’s pretty clear that com¬
puters are getting smaller, faster,
and more connected than ever.
The fact that they’re getting
smaller and faster is good and
necessary. The interconnection is
essential if computers are going to
be more useful than mere number
crunchers. With good connec¬
tions, computers can improve
communication between people,

allowing them to become more
productive.

If you have an item that is ap¬
propriate for this column , you can
contact Mr. Sobeil by electronic
mail at ucbvax!Olympus!its!mgs
or by US mail at UNIX REVIEW ,
520 Waller St., San Francisco, CA
94117.

Mark G. Sobeil is the author of
“A Practical Guide to the UNIX
System ” (Benjamin/Cummings,
1984). His 10 years in the computer
industry include programming,
technical writing and management
experience. Mr. Sobeil has been
working with UNIX for four years.
In addition to consulting in the San
Francisco Bay Area, he teaches, lec¬
tures and writes. ■

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Circle No. 32 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 75

RULES

OF THE GAME

A better mousetrap?

by Glenn Groenewold

How often have cartoonists
evoked the image of someone
sitting in the waiting room of a
patent attorney, cradling an
outlandish contraption bristling
with crankhandles, indicator
lights and antennae! Often enough
that this caricature has come to
represent the concept that many
of us have of a patentable
invention.

Perhaps the Patent Office and
the Supreme Court were influenc¬
ed in similar fashion, because for
years both refused to concede that
there was a valid theory which
would permit an ordinary com¬
puter program to be included
within the scope of a patent. It
finally required a contrary deci¬
sion by a bitterly divided Supreme
Court to persuade the Patent
Office to change its mind.

This history should not be
surprising, actually. American
patent law comprises one of two
branches from the same limb of
our Constitutional tree — the
other being the law of copyright.
Originally these domains were
easy to differentiate. Patents
secured to “inventors” an ex¬
clusive right for a limited time in
their “discoveries”; copyrights ac¬
complished the same thing for
“authors” with respect to their
“writings”. It was not easy to see
how computer programs could fit
into either of these categories —
let alone both of them, as things
finally turned out.

The patent law that Congress
has written under its Consti¬
tutional authority states that
whoever invents a “new and
useful” process or machine may
obtain a patent. At first glance, it
would seem logical to assume that
if a computer program were to fit
into the patent concept at all, it
would be as part of a process
used to bring about a desired
result. However, the Supreme
Court had difficulty accepting this
approach, since it viewed a com¬
puter program as nothing more
than a series of mathematical for¬
mulas, which are not patentable.

For a while, patents were
issued anyway, under the compul¬
sion of decisions by the Court of
Customs and Patent Appeals that
in essence viewed a computer pro¬
gram as part of a machine , since
it caused the computer to function
in a different fashion than it could

have otherwise. As one opinion of
this court put it, “if a new
machine has not been invented,
certainly a ‘new and useful im¬
provement’ of the unprogrammed
machine has been....”

After the Supreme Court got
around to tossing this rationale
out the window, things looked
bleak for the patentability of com¬
puter programs. But as so often
happens, another case came along
in which a new majority on the
Court succeeded in overcoming
the effect of its earlier rulings.

By a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme
Court decided that a process using
a computer program to control the
curing of molded synthetic rubber
could be patented. However, the
bare computer program by itself
— including the algorithms — still
cannot be the subject of a patent.
And there the matter stands, at
least for now.

Whether or not this judicial
distinction can be said to make
much sense, it does permit a com¬
puter program to comprise part of
a process which can be patented.
Still, this method of protecting in¬
tellectual property has not been
widely utilized for computer
software.

GETTING A PATENT

For one thing, patents are not
easy to obtain. Unlike copyrights,
which come into existence
automatically, a patent is granted
only after the Patent Office has

conducted a thorough investi¬
gation. The procedure is drawn-
out and often costly — $ 15,000 to
$25,000 being considered a
ballpark figure for electronics
patents.

One reason the process is so
expensive is that specialized pro¬
fessionals are almost always
necessary to prepare the applica¬
tion, which must be presented in
such a way as to make it clear that
the innovation is indeed paten¬
table. There are some people who
find it a challenge to do this for
themselves, just as there are folks
who get a charge out of building
their own aircraft and flying
around in them. But most of us
feel more secure relying on profes¬
sionals in such matters.

By contrast, a copyright

The bare computer
program by itself —
including the
algorithms — still
cannot be the
subject of a patent.

registration costs only $10, is pro¬
cessed promptly, and seldom re¬
quires professional assistance.
Take the case of Mary and Joe,
owners of GarageCo, a small

operation with limited resources.
Though they would like to patent
their new process, including the
applications program central to
it, they may have to rely on
copyright (or trade secret) pro¬
tection instead.

The reason for the discrepan¬
cy between the patent and
copyright processes is that the
Patent Office attempts to deter¬
mine before issuing a patent that
it will be valid. (The copyright
office assumes no comparable
burden.) Making this determina¬
tion is no simple matter.

The law requires, among
other things, that the subject mat¬
ter of a patent be useful and novel
(that is, that it not be an obvious
solution or merely a fresh com¬
bination of “prior art”). The law

U N I

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Circle No. 33 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 77

W RULES OF THE GAME

also demands that the thing to be
patented not be something that
has been known or used by others
in this country and that it has not
been previously patented or
described in a publication in this

or any foreign country. These re¬
quirements not only make plenty
of work for the Patent Office but
also provide a fertile ground for at¬
tacks on the validity of the patent
once it has been granted.

Now we can have some appre¬
ciation of the problems involved in
preparing a patent application,
and why it’s no job for amateurs.
Many a potential patent has
foundered because of an applica¬
tion that made it appear that
the innovation merely strung
together existing technologies. An
application of this sort will be
turned down on the basis that it
constitutes nothing more than an
application of “prior art.” In
the past, many computer progams
have been denied patents for just
this reason.

Assuming a patent applica¬
tion has successfully surmounted
these hurdles, what does the
holder of the patent get in return
for all the trouble?

Not all that much, in the view
of a lot of people. True, the patent
does confer an exclusive right of
use for a period of 17 years, and
there is no “fair use” exception, as
there is with copyrights. (This ex¬
clusive right has to be exercised
without running afoul of such
things as antitrust laws, however.)
But there can be no extension of
the 17-year period.

Consider, moreover, that a
United States patent has effect
only within this country and its
territories; it’s necessary to obtain
separate patents for each country
in which the patented material
will be used. Though US law pro¬
vides a year’s grace period within
which to apply for a patent after
the innovation has been disclosed
or made available to others, most
other countries do not. So any
desired foreign patents usually
must be requested before the sub¬
ject matter has been released.

In addition, the penalties that
the law provides for patent in¬
fringement are not as severe as
those for copyrights. And the rate
of failure for patents in litigation
has been horrendous—over three-
quarters of the patents that have

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78 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

been challenged have ultimately
been found invalid.

It’s also necessary to disclose
the subject matter of a patent
upon its issuance, and while this
can’t be used commercially by
anyone else during the 17-year ex¬
clusivity period, it can give other
innovators a leg up in devising
something that may be better
than the patented item.

WORTH THE TROUBLE?

After all this, you may wonder
why anyone bothers with patents.
An answer, of course, is that with
all their drawbacks, patents still
constitute the only feasible form of
protection for some intellectual
property.

Suppose, for example, that a
program comprising an essential
part of the operating system for a
computer can be written only one
way. Such a program could not be
copyrighted, because as the courts
view it, the idea behind the com¬
puter program and its expression
have “merged”. Or to put it
another way, they are one and the
same. This is the possibility that
the appellate court raised in Apple
vs. Franklin , which we discussed
a few columns back. Moreover, the
manner in which the program is
distributed for use may make it
impossible to maintain as a trade
secret. The only way, then, to pro¬
tect this program would be to
endeavor to include it within the
scope of a patent on the computer
and its operating system.

Another advantage of the
patent route is that in some other
countries it may provide better
protection than a copyright. A
number of nations that are trying
to catch up in the software field
have demonstrated reluctance to
enforce American copyrights. In
countries where a patent can be
obtained, this difficulty should be
obviated.

However, a patent will prob¬

ably not be worth the trouble for
an innovation that is expected to
have a brief useful life unless it is
basic , with subsequent develop¬
ment dependent on it.

This all brings us to the point
that patents often complement

The rate of failure
for patents in
litigation has been
horrendous.

other forms of intellectual proper¬
ty protection. During an in-house
R&D phase, a process can be
guarded as a trade secret. This can
continue to be done even after a
patent application is filed, since
the contents of the application re¬

main confidential until the patent
is granted. And that may take
years.

Even after issuance of the
patent and the accompanying
disclosure of the innovation, fur¬
ther refinements in the process
can be kept as trade secrets and
licensed accordingly. And
documentation concerning the
patented process can be protected
by copyright.

The thing to remember is that
all of the legal devices for intellec¬
tual property protection have their
uses. It’s perilous to concentrate
on one of them and forget about
the others. But if you’re thinking
about the possibility of a patent,
it’s essential to get expert advice
at the outset.

Glenn Groenewold is a California
attorney who devotes his time to
computer law. He has served as an
administrative law judge , has been
active in trial and appellate work
and has argued cases before the state
Supreme Court. ■

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UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 79

ADVISOR

The Evolution of C: Heresy and Prophesy

by Bill Tuthill

C is descended from B, which
was descended from BCPL. BCPL
(Basic Combined Programming
Language) was developed in 1967
by Martin Richards. B was an in¬
terpretive language written in
1970 by Ken Thompson 1 after he
abandoned a Fortran implementa¬
tion for the PDP-7.

BCPL and B were typeless
languages, which may account for
the type permissiveness of C.
They restricted their scope to
machine words and were rather
low level. However, they provided
structured programming con¬
structs similar to those in Algol.
BCPL, B, and C all provide
pointers and address arithmetic.
All three pass function parameters
by value, rather than by address,
but permit passing by address if
desired.

The first real C compiler was
completed in 1972, at which time
the only supported types were
char, int, float and double. After
the addition of structures in 1973,
the UNIX kernel was successfully
recoded into C, which helped
rationalize and organize the
operating system. 2 The C language
continued to evolve, largely
because of porting efforts, and was
finally codified in 1978. 3 By then,
the type adjectives unsigned,
short, and long had been added,
in addition to the type aggregates
union, and typedef. More impor¬
tantly, an efficient and portable

80 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

Standard I/O Library had been
developed.

C is gradually losing its type
flexibility and becoming more and
more like Pascal, the language of
wimps and quiche-eaters. In 1980,
two new types were added, void
and enum. Both were derived
from Algol 68 and Pascal. The first
is used primarily to make C code
harder to read, but easier for lint
to digest. The second might ac¬
tually be useful. C routines that
return a value are comparable to
Pascal functions, whereas func¬
tions declared as void are com¬
parable to Pascal procedures. At
this point, it may be a good idea to
avoid void and enum because
most C compilers on cheap micros
don’t yet support them.

This is the current state of
most C compilers. The C compilers
on System V and the C compiler

on 4.2 BSD are almost identical.
The Berkeley compiler was the
first to offer infinite-length vari¬
able names in order to support
a companion Pascal compiler. The
System V.2 compiler now offers
the same feature. Despite their
advantages, infinite-length vari¬
ables can be expensive to imple¬
ment and can cause portability
problems when software is moved
to systems with older compilers.
Dennis Ritchie has to be com¬
mended for shepherding C pro¬
grammers onto a narrow path.
Despite the proliferation of UNIX
versions, there is but one C.

ANSI STANDARD C

A sign that C has become a
major commercial language can
be seen in the current effort to
standardize it. The American Na¬
tional Standards Institute (ANSI)
has formed committee X3J11 to
handle the task. Their draft
standard that has not yet been
approved. Nonetheless, I believe
this C standard represents the
most significant step forward for
the language since Kernighan and
Ritchie’s white book appeared.

The standards committee is
divided into three subcommittees:
environment, libraries, and
language.Programming environ¬
ments are a hazy area. Most like¬
ly, the main(argc.argv) argument
passing convention will be

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W C ADVISOR

required on all operating systems. However, the
function of the UNIX environment cannot be
duplicated on many other operating systems, so the
third parameter envp (environment pointer) will
probably be dropped. European character sets are
still under discussion.

The library routines in section 3 of the Unix Pro¬
grammer's Manual (except for Bessel functions) will
be part of the standard. However, system calls in sec¬
tion 2 will be dropped because they cannot always
be duplicated on non-UNIX systems. The exception
to this is signal(2), which is necessary to make C pro¬
grams re-entrant.

The language subcommittee started with the
System V.2 C Reference Manual. It should be noted,
though, that there have been three major changes

Dennis Ritchie has to be
commended for sheparding
C programmers onto a
narrow path.

since the C Reference Manual was published with
Kernighan and Ritchie’s The C Programming
Language.

First, identifiers are significant to 31 characters,
rather than 8 (as on Version 7), or infinite length (as
on Berkeley UNIX and System V.2). Originally the
committee was going to limit external names to 6
characters without case distinction, but public out¬
cry was so strong that this will be left as an im¬
plementation detail.

The second change is that structure and union
assignment is possible, and that structures and
unions may be passed as parameters. Member
names are local to structures and unions, instead of
being global.

Finally, the void and enum types have been add¬
ed. A function returning no value actually returns
the type void, and programmers can throw away un¬
wanted values by casting to void. For example, you
can throw away the value returned by fclose( ) with
the expression:

(void) f close (fp);

The enum type allows you to replace ugly

82 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

preprocessor code like this:

^define DEV202 1

#define DEVAPS5 2

#define DEV8600 3

^define DEVIMAGEN 4

^define DEVQMS 5

int dev;

with the more streamlined:

enum devtype i DEV202, DEVAPS5, DEV8600,\

DEVIMAGEN, DEVQMS > dev;

Variables of type enum are treated as second-class
integers — in Steve Johnson’s Portable C Compiler,
for example, arithmetic comparison (except equali¬
ty) is illegal. The standard may change this, however,
particularly because enum comparisons are allow¬
ed in Ritchie’s C compiler.

The committee has introduced many changes
above and beyond the System V.2 standard.
Arguments to functions may be declared, for in¬
stance, if the programmer wants the compiler to
check them. For example, you could say:
extern int tread(char *, int, int, FILE *);

In the event of a type mismatch, the same conver¬
sions as for the assignment operator apply. This
means that NULL pointer arguments will no longer
have to be cast to the appropriate type! Variable-
argument functions can be declared like so:

extern int printf(char *, ...);

The convention for declaring functions that take no
parameters is:

extern int rand(void);

The new data type const marks variables as read¬
only, with run-time assignment forbidden. This used
to be done less reliably, and without placing an entry
in the symbol table, by preprocessor definitions. The
type const will be useful for data placed in ROM on
special hardware. Also, it makes the :rofix kludge
obsolete (this was a way to move data to text space
by changing .data assembly code to .text).

If all operands in an expression are of type float,
the compiler is allowed (but not required) to evaluate
the expression in single, rather than double, preci¬
sion. Casts may be used to force double precision
evaluation. Numeric constants are treated as double
unless explicitly cast to float. If function arguments
are declared, passing a float to a function expecting
a double will be harmless.

The preprocessor is part of the language defini¬
tion. Its syntax has been extended with # elif so that
if-else blocks can be coded more easily. Space before
the sharp ( # ) will be permitted.

Two string constants (not variables) next to each

other in the source code are considered con¬
catenated. This makes it easier to continue strings
across line boundaries.

The types unsigned char, unsigned short, and
unsigned long are part of the specification.
Johnson’s Portable C Compiler has always accepted
these types, but they were not defined in the C
Reference Manual . Plain char may be either signed
or unsigned depending on the implementation.

Promiscuous pointer assignments are con¬
sidered illegal (on most machines they now just
generate a warning message). You must use casts
when mixing pointer types or mixing integers with
pointers. A new kind of pointer, void*, cannot be de¬
referenced but can be assigned to any other type of
pointer without a cast. Before, char * was the univer¬
sal pointer that could point to anything. The earlier
declaration of fread( ) should really be:

extern int fread(void *, int, int, FILE *);

The compiler will make the appropriate pointer con¬
versions. The new storage class volatile (the name
is tentative) means that the compiler should not op¬

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timize references to data bearing this label. This will
make it possible to write better optimizing C
compilers.

The selection expression of a switch can be of
any integer type, including long or short. The unary
plus operator (analogous with the unary minus
operator) does nothing. This is for consistency with
the library routines atoi( ) and atof().

When a union is initialized, the type of the in¬
itializer is the type of the first member in the union.
This may not be ideal, but it is simple.

Hexadecimal string escapes have been added. To
put an ESC in a string, you say:

"Here’s a real ESC: \x1b"

Previously you had to use octal escapes. This is an
admission that hexadecimal is more common in the
computer world than octal.

Some things will disappear. The keywords en¬
try, asm, and fortran will not be part of the stan¬
dard, though the last two may be recognized as valid
extensions. The keywords long float will no longer
be a synonym for double. The octal digits 08 and 09,

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Circle No. 37 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 83

W C ADVISOR

which used to be interpreted as 10 and 11, will no
longer be valid. It will be illegal to take the address
of a register variable.

The names of arguments to functions will not be
permitted to clash with the names of automatic
variables. This code will be illegal:

function(arg)
int arg;
i

int arg;

Some existing compilers interpret this as nested
scope, where the inner declaration hides the outer
one. No good programmer would write code like that
anyway.

The chair of the draft standard language sub¬
committee is Larry Rosier of AT&T Bell Laboratories,
the author of an interesting article on C evolution. 5
Comments should be addressed to him.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Beginning C programmers complain that error
messages are confusing, and often have difficulties
with pointers. Advanced C programmers usually
grow fond of the language, but recognize its short¬
comings and limitations. The preprocessor is
primitive and has different syntax than the rest of
the language. The aesthetics of the case statement
are horrible, and bitwise operators should bind more
tightly than they do. Most C compilers are painfully
slow, as is the UNIX loader.

It’s easy to imagine a much better language, but
there are only a few serious contenders — among
them LISP, SmallTalk, Modula2, MainSail, and Ada.
The first two require specialized environments, the
next two don’t appear to be a great step forward, and
Ada isn’t real yet. In computing, we have to live with
what we have.

Always an evolving language, C may develop to
keep pace with user needs and compiler technology.
Bjarne Stroustrup has implemented a new language
(or extension of C, depending on your perspective,)
that he has cleverly called C + + . 6 Although the jury
is still out, C+ + may well supplant C sometime in
the future. The most interesting features of the C+ +
language are:

• User-definable types with operators that apply.
Complex and BCD data types could be created this
way.

• Derived classes that allow object-oriented pro¬
gramming, which is a great advantage when doing
graphics.

• Data abstraction facilities using classes, which

81 VNIXREYIEW MNV/W

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W C ADVISOR

provide data hiding, structure initialization, and
dynamic typing (all optional).

• Argument checking and coercion (overridable) for
all functions, making it unnecessary for the program¬
mer to cast arguments that are not of the proper type.

• Function and operator overloading, making it un¬
necessary to have separate functions for floating
point and integer arguments.

• A high degree of compatibility with C. The C+ +
compiler can optionally compile C if required.

Note that all but the first three features are pro¬
vided in the ANSI draft standard. A big advantage
of C + + is that programs can define new data types
as required. 7 For commercial data processing, BCD
arithmetic can be defined, and for mathematical
computing, complex arithmetic can be defined. This
is much better than modifying the compiler. Com¬
plex arithmetic would be simpler to define than BCD
arithmetic. The latter would require overloading
C++ operators to make them call functions that
would have to be implemented in Assembly code,
using machine-dependent BCD instructions.

The principal advantage of C has always been
that it doesn’t try to do everything itself — libraries
can be written to do whatever is required. The com¬
plex and BCD data types are not needed by
everybody using the language, so they are most
appropriately relegated to a library.

1 D.M. Ritchie, S.C. Johnson, M.E. Lesk, and B.W. Kernighan,
“The C Programming Language,” Bell System Technical
Journal, vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 1991-2019, 1978.

2 D.M. Ritchie, “The Evolution of the UNIX Time-sharing
System,” AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal, vol. 63,
no. 8.2, pp. 1577-1594, 1984.

3 B.W. Kernighan and D.M. Ritchie, The C Programming
Language, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1976.

4 The discussion of the ANSI draft standard is derived mostly
from a Usenet article submitted by Henry Spencer of the
University of Toronto.

5 L. Rosier, “The Evolution of C — Past and Future,” AT&T
Bell Laboratories Technical Journal, vol. 63, no. 8.2, pp.
1685-1700, 1984.

6 B. Stroustrup, “C + + Reference Manual” Computing
Science Technical Report, no. 108, AT&T Bell Laboratories,
Murray Hill, NJ, January 1984.

7 B. Stroustrup, “Data Abstraction in C,” AT&T Beil
Laboratories Technical Journal, vol. 63, no. 8.2, pp. 1701-1732,
1984.

Bill Tuthill was a leading UNIX and C consultant
at UC Berkeley for four years prior to becoming a
systems software analyst at Imagen Corporation. He en¬
joys a solid reputation in the UNIX community earned
as part of the Berkeley team that enhanced Version 7
(BSD 4A 4.1 and 4.2). ■

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/usr/lib

Another BSTJ classic?

by Jim Joyce

Part two of the October, 1984
issue of AT&T Bell Laboratories
Technical Journal (BSTJ for
short) has as its subtitle The UNIX
System. This is the second time
an issue of the BSTJ has focused
on UNIX. The first is the legendary
(and still available) July-August,
1978 issue subtitled UNIX Time-
Sharing System, timed to coincide
with the release of Version 7
UNIX. As far as I can tell, this
issue is not timed to coincide with
any other UNIX-oriented event,
and perhaps that in part is why
the articles, when taken as a
whole, lack the excitement of the
1978 issue.

There are excellent articles in
The UNIX System. Certainly both
articles by Dennis Ritchie (“The
Evolution of the UNIX Time-
Sharing System” and “A Stream
Input-Output System”), and the
article on security by Fred
Grampp and R. H. Morris (“UNIX
Operating System Security”)
qualify.

The Pike and Kernighan con¬
tribution, “Program Design in
the UNIX Environment”, is also
excellent, except that the material
has been covered earlier this year
in their justly popular book, The
UNIX Programming En vironm en t
(see UNIX REVIEW, Feb/Mar, 1984
for a review). In fact, the heart of
the article, the cat-v discussion,
was covered in a Usenix confer¬
ence paper by Pike and is well-

66 VNIft R6YIGW

known in the UNIX community.
Still, if anyone hasn’t read or
heard the discussion, the Pike and
Kernighan article is nitty-gritty
UNIX thinking at its best.

There seems a curious lack of
occasion for this special issue.
The passage of six years’ time
since the 1978 issue seems no par¬
ticular milestone. Robert Martin,
writing in the “Preface”, states,
“This Computing Science and
Systems issue of the Journal
demonstrates two key points.
First, the intellectual foundations
laid by Thompson and Ritchie are
firm footings for continued in¬
novation and advances in com¬
puter science. Second, even
though the UNIX system is
already widely accepted, it is
continuously being improved by
the company that invented it,” (p.
1572). Let’s examine these
reasons in light of the articles.

That the intellectual founda¬
tions are firm footings for
continued innovation and ad¬
vances cannot be denied: UNIX is
a wonderful environment for in¬
novation. Yet in “A UNIX System
Implementation for System/370”
we read that TSS/370 was used as
the basis on top of which UNIX
was to run. Innovation? Hardly.
EUNICE runs on top of VMS for
VAXen, and HP-UX runs on top of
BASIS for Hewlett-Packard ports.
EUNICE has been around for at
least the two years attributed to
the 370 port. HP-UX is, of course,
relatively recent.

But the fun part comes in
examining the assertion that
UNIX is continuously being im¬
proved by the company that
invented it. Although many
references are made to System V,
there are also references to
“Edition 8”. The term “Edition”
refers to the internal version of
UNIX at the Labs, evolving from
its original meaning as the version
of UNIX described in a particular
edition of the UNIX Programmer's
Manual. And, sure enough, the
password stealer shell script in the
Grampp and Morris article begins:

echo -n "Login: "

— a sure sign this script does not
run on System V (or System III, for
that matter), where the
comparable code would be:

echo "login: \c"

Since Edition 8 continues developing, with in¬
terest in it mounting in the UNIX community out¬
side the Labs, and since System III/V migrates in an
independent direction, I cannot help asking which
UNIX the company is improving? Will Edition 8
become Version 8, and will those who scrambled to
join the bandwagon after AT&T’s massive ad cam¬
paign for System V slap themselves on the forehead,
exclaiming, “Wow! I could have had a V-8!’’?

The bottom-line problem I am getting at is that
this collection of articles shows there is no cohesive
view of UNIX at AT&T. I get the feeling from reading
variations of the motto, “UNIX is now widespread in
the marketplace”, that the slogan serves as a sad
substitute for the genuine excitement over the
wonder of UNIX expressed in the 1978 issue of BSTJ.

Should this issue of BSTJ be read by every
serious UNIX user? Conditions that made the answer
to that question in 1978 a resounding “YES!” are not
the conditions of 1984. The answer is now a qualified
“Yes”. The UNIX afficionado will want to read the
October BSTJ , and may rejoice to glean tidbits.
Among them is that 512 bytes is the line-length limit
for sort; the message on the manual page for sort,

“Very long lines are silently truncated”, has perplex¬
ed and even vexed many users for years.

The article “Data Abstraction in C” may evoke
cries of anguish from those who would like the
language frozen, especially with the REQUIREMENT
(no less) that functions called with a variable number
of articles must have an ellipsis indicating such is
the case:

int fprintf(FILE*, char*, ...);

How much existing C code is affected by such
a pronouncement one wonders. If I wanted a
language that got in my way, I would have stayed
with Pascal. Of course, we need not use the C+ +
compiler discussed in the article — yet.

Unfortunately, the people who may decide
whether C+ + succeeds are the same folks who ar¬
bitrarily broke:

echo -n "mumble"
so it had to be recoded:

echo "mumbleXc"

in the Giant Leap Forward from Version 7 to System
III (and V). (Why both forms are not tolerated seems

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O /usr/lib

to have been overlooked - perhaps because those
deciding did not have to change the shell scripts.)

To wrap this assessment up, I am put in mind
of Dennis Ritchie’s Turing Award Lecture in which
he affirmed (albeit cautiously) that something like
UNIX could again grow at the Labs. I would like o
believe that as well, yet I also know that many inter¬
nal goodies await impatiently for attorneys to decide

licensing issues. .

Sadly, the October BSTJ includes no articles on
text processing (I exclude the articles on encryption
deliberately). Nor is there an exciting application,
such as Mike Lesk's paper describing the program
that uses the Yellow Pages as a database from which
queries such as “Where is the nearest pizza parlor?
are answered by a map that is output along with driv¬
ing directions that take into account the fastest

throughways. T

None of this is to say that the October BSTJ is
not full of good things to read. Unfortunately, the
number of typos, such as the missing backquotes on
page 1599, and the journal’s general lack of focus
detract, making it seem an issue thrown together
hastily. For all that, there are good things worth dig¬
ging out.

Maybe I was spoiled the first time the BSTJ did
an icciip nn UNIX The Table of Contents follows:

Table of Contents for AT&T Bell Laboratories

Technical Journal VoL63, No.8, Part 2 October
1984 - The UNIX System

1. Preface (2)

2. Foreword (4)

3. The Evolution of the UNIX Time-sharing
System (18)

4. Program Design in the UNIX System En¬
vironment (12)

5. The Blit: A Multiplexed Graphics Terminal
(26)

6. Debugging C Programs With The Blit (16)

7. UNIX Operating System Security (24)

8. File Security and the UNIX System Crypt
Command (12)

9. The Evolution of C — Past and Future (16)

10. Data Abstraction in C (32)

11. Multiprocessor UNIX Systems (18)

12. A UNIX System Implementation for
System/370 (18)

13. UNIX Operating System Porting Experiences

( 22 )

14. The Evolution of UNIX System Performance
(24)

15. Cheap Dynamic Instruction Counting (12)

16. Theory and Practice in the Construction of a
Working Sort Routine (18)

90 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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The UNIX Programming Environment by Brian
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A Practical Guide to the UNIX System by
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UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

/usr/lib

17. The Fair Share Scheduler (14)

18 The Virtual Protocol Machine (18)

19. A Network of Computers Running the UNIX
System (20)

20. A Stream Input-Output System (13)

UNIX for People

This is a fine book for someone wanting to learn
to do document preparation under UNIX. The ex¬
amples are heavily oriented toward Berkeley UNIX,
largely because the book was done at Berkeley by the
three authors: Peter Birns, Patrick Brown, and John
C. C. Muster. Yet the excellence of the examples
make the book usable in a non-Berkeley
environment.

Nevertheless, there is something very wrong
about this book. For one thing, it claims as its sub¬
title: “A Modular Guide to the UNIX System: Visual
Editing, Document Preparation, & Other Resources”.
They may as well have left off the “& Other
Resources”, since their excursion into UNIX com¬
mands is only in the context of preparing documents,
and they do not do much with that excursion.

Make no mistake: what they have done is quite
nice, though at times a bit precious. This
preciousness reminds me of the Waite group s UNIX
Primer Plus (UNIX REVIEW, Oct/Nov, 1983), which
was also Berkeley-oriented. At times, the approach
comes dangerously close to being patronizing.

The photo illustration on page 15 for the com¬
mand look egg shows a man looking at an egg much
as Hamlet regards Yorick’s skull. Since Yorick was
a jester in the play, one can wonder whether the egg
is being asked, “Any good yolks?” See, it’s catching.
Seriously, the photos and drawings do add to the
text. Detracting, though, are excesses such as the
section heading “You’ve Made It (Puff-Puff) — as
though the very gentle, step-by-step presentation
had offered a challenging slope for a runner. “You’ve
Made It” would have been enough.

Although the subtitle to the book does make
clear the emphasis, it is most unfortunate that the
“Preface” claims it was "originally intended as an
introductory book on text processing, ... [but] has
grown into a more complete introduction to the en¬
tire UNIX Operating System.” (p. xii) This is patent¬
ly false, and unnecessarily misleading to potential
readers. The book is not in any way an introduction
to “the entire UNIX Operating System’’. The book
is a good introduction to text processing, including
many nice examples of table processing using tbl.
Why not call the book UNIX Text Processing for Peo¬
ple so we know who the audience is? As it is, the ex-

aggerated claim detracts from the genuine merit of
the achievement.

The Table of Contents follows:

Table of Contents for UNIX for People

1. How to Use This Book (5)

2. Accessing the UNIX System (15)

3. Your First File (16)

4. Editing Files Using the Visual Editor (24)

5. Nroff Formatting Commands (20)

6. File Management with Shell Commands (24)

7. Conceptual Overview (15)

8. Advanced Visual Editor Commands (22)

9. Advanced Formatting Commands The -ms
Macros (27)

10. A Stroll Through a Full Production Number

( 8 )

11. The Line Editor Ex (26)

12. Special Search and Substitution Characters
(19)

13. Truly Advanced Visual Editing (19)

14. Communicating with Others (8)

15. The UNIX Directory Structure (23)

16. Account Management Activities (17)

17. Backgrounding a Process (12)

18. Parts and Wholes (11)

19. Phototypesetting with Troff and Troff -ms
(15)

20. Macro Construction (28)

21. Utility Programs (11)

22. Commands, Files, and Directories: Paths,
Bins, & Yellow Brick Modes (16)

23. Form Letters (10)

24. Special Formatting Topics: A Title Page,
Table of Contents, & Index (12)

25. Bibliographies and Footnotes: The REFER
Program (17)

26. Setting Tables: A Busboy’s Nightmare
The TBL Pre-Processor (24)

27. Equalizing Equations: The EQN Pre-
Processor (23)

28. Troubleshooting (13)

29. Where to Now? (7)

Command Summary Section

Shell (9)

Visual Editor (10)

Format (11)

Location of Material within the Book
Index (9)

Quick Access Chart (7)

Jim Joyce is President of International Technical
Seminars, Inc., a firm committed to UNIX training and
founder of the Independent UNIX Bookstore. For
answers to your questions about books, call 415/621-1593.

Circle No. 49 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 93

THE UNIX
GLOSSARY

Echoes from the past

by Steve Rosenthal

Note: Much could be said about
each of these terms . But only
those aspects that concern the
evolution of UNIX are included in
this listing .

2 BSD — the first widely
distributed version of the UNIX
system enhancements developed
by the Computer Systems
Research Group at the University
of California at Berkeley. It ran on
the PDP-11. See BSD for more
details.

4 BSD — the second widely
distributed version of the UNIX
system enhancements developed
by the Computer Systems Depart¬
ment at the University of Califor¬
nia at Berkeley. It runs primarily
on the DEC VAX. The current
release is 4.2 BSD. See BSD for
more details.

B — an interpretive language
developed by Ken Thompson after
he gave up on a week-long attempt
to implement Fortran for the
PDP-7. B is now primarily known
as the predecessor to the language
C.

binary license — a license to use
UNIX code as compiled for a
specific implementation. In the
early days of UNIX, most of the
university and research users who
brought up UNIX worked from
source code. Now, most commer¬
cial users buy only a binary
license, leaving it to major soft¬

ware vendors to make changes to
their system code.

BISP — Short for Business Infor¬
mation Systems Programs, the
unit at Bell Labs that included
many of the early users of the
UNIX system and its utilities.
Because their requirements were
more oriented towards software
production and less towards com¬
puter research, BISP people add¬
ed most of the PWB (Program¬
mer’s Work Bench) utilities to
UNIX, including the SCCS (Source
Code Control System). Some of
the tools developed at BISP were
incorporated into Version 7, and
most found their way into System
III, which was descended from
PWB/UNIX.

BSD — short for Berkeley Soft¬
ware Distribution, a succession
of UNIX implementations de¬
veloped by the Computer Systems

Research Group at the University
of California at Berkeley (see
CSRG for more details). The BSD
effort, which was funded by the
DARPA (Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency), pro¬
duced a number of enhance¬
ments, including demand-paged
virtual memory. BSD code is in
the general public domain
(although, of course, you need a
valid UNIX license or a UNIX-like
system to make direct use of it).
Even though AT&T has made
some effort to incorporate
Berkeley’s enhancements into
its implementations of UNIX
(particularly into System V), the
Berkeley versions have a signifi¬
cantly different flavor. It appears
that while there is still much
cross-fertilization, some level
of speciation may have already
occurred, and System V and BSD
may continue to evolve only
somewhat in parallel.

C — the computer language tied
closely to the evolution of the
UNIX system. C was developed by
Dennis Ritchie, in an effort to
create a language that would be
sufficently high level to permit
users to be productive, yet suffi¬
ciently close to the machine code
to allow for the efficient writing of
compilers and operating systems.
The current level of C’s populari¬
ty would indicate the effort has
been largely successful. C arose as
an evolutionary advance, being

94 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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’ Prograromabie bVtcii We'capabTlity^^^^^

’ Unattended file transfer/auto logon
* Translation tables for input and output

16, along with more than 35 CP/M—80. MSDOS. and

CP/M—86systems- IBM prsm 1 T V ong Wl,n more lhan 35 CP/M—80. MSOOS. and

CALL OR WRITE FOR FREE PRODUCT CATALOG

\jhi-l. \jn nmic run n

CENTURY

SOFTWARE

S O F T W A R

We make it easy for you.

CP/M ts a registered TM of Digital Research

9558 South Pinedale Circle
Sandy, Utah 84092
(801) 943-8386

See us at UniForum Booth #3311

Circle No. 51 on Inquiry Card

rst versions «f pwb

were

Information Systems Programs

group at Bell Labs), and first in-
stalled on a PDP -11 in 1973.

derived from the sixth edition, but

gram development created at

BISP. Most of tile features were in¬
corporated in System in and then
System V.

Seventh Edition - one of the
original names for what is now

(Ad UNIX Version 7. gee Ver-

sion for why this happened.

source license -a UNIX license

that includes the right to read and
modify the UNIX source code (but
not necessarily to distribute those
modifications). In the early days of
UNIX, when most users were at
universities, the majority of in¬
stallations had source licenses.
Now, most casual users buy UNIX
as a packaged product, operating
under a sublicense and receiving

96 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

EXPERIENCE JHE WORLDS QF |)NIX*

UniForum ’85 is your passport
nating “Worlds of UNIX.” You’ll
examine the growing
impact of UNIX in
Office Systems, Per¬
sonal Computers,
Engineering/Pro¬
gramming, and
Market Trends
at UniForum ’85,
the largest UNIX event
ever held.

to the fasci-

14 all-day tutorials on user-specific aspects of
UNIX...40 in-depth and informative confer¬
ence sessions...four nationally-known ple¬
nary speakers.

In addition, a number of introductory courses
in UNIX will be presented throughout
* the event.

UniForum ’85 will be your total UNIX experi¬
ence. Whether you’re just getting started...
or are a seasoned UNIX veteran...UniForum
’85 is the UNIX event of the year.

More than 200 major vendors, in 850 booths,
will display and demonstrate all that’s new in
UNIX products and applications.

An extensive conference and tutorial program
will expand your UNIX database. This pro¬
gram, organized by /usr/group, will include

* UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Sponsored by

/usj/group

The International Network of UNIX Users

For Complete Information, Call:

1-800-323-5155

(In Illinois, Call: 1-312-299-3131)

Or Write:

UniForum
Suite 205

2400 East Devon Avenue
Des Plaines, IL 60018

Circle No. 52 on Inquiry Card

UNIX toVAX/VMS Transparent Communications

OtraLlnk - UNIX* to VAX1VMS ^communications software

which provides an error-free, multi-user link to VAX/Vft

S from

UltraLink uses an advanced protocol to provide a UNIX command interface for:

File transfer in both directions.

File transfer to VMS line printers
Interactive VMS sessions from UNIX terminals

§reare

Call (603) 643'3800 for more information.

Etna Road P.O. Box 71 Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 Telex 953101

*Registered Trademarks: UNIX: Bell Laboratories; VAX/VMS, ULTRIX: Digital Equipment Corporation;
MASSCOMP: Massachusetts Computer Corporation; Pyramid: Pyramid Technology Corporation; Sun-2:
Sun Microsystems, Inc.; Creare, UltraLink: Creare R&D, Inc.

See us at UniForum Booth #2006

Circle Wo. 53 on Inquiry Card

Version — the ear y _
of UNIX, up through Version 7,

were known by the numbering Oil

the corresponding edition of

documentation. Thus Version 6
was the UNIX documented in the
sixth edition of the UNIX manuals.

Version 1 — the unofficial name

(Of [lie Wiliest UNIX system, it

was developed in 1969 and 1970,

and ran on the PDP-7, The original
version was a single-user system,

with only a few of the utilities now

considered standard.

Version 5 — the earliest version

of UNIX that anyone seems to
mention as having been regularly
used outside of Bell Laboratories.

Version 5 apparently made its

way out to a handful of university
and research labs.

Version 6 — the first widely-
distributed version of UNIX. This
version was made available to
educational and non-profit
research institutions for a nominal

98 UWIX REVIEW JAWUARY 1985

charge (mostly for handling and
tape copying), starting in 1975.

Version 7 — the first version of
UNIX to be made available to com¬
mercial users outside of Bell. It
was first released in 1979, and is
still in widespread use. Officially,
Version 7 was superseded by
System III.

Western Electric — before the
Bell System divestiture, Western
Electric, which was the Bell
System’s supply and manufactur¬
ing arm, was the logical place to
take orders for software. Conse¬
quently, it served as the distribu¬
tion point for Bell UNIX until the
breakup re-shuffled the cards.
AT&T Technologies, which ended
up with UNIX, still cuts the deck
with regularity, but UNIX dis¬
tribution seems to be somewhat
fixed in the Software Sales and
Marketing group in Greensboro,
NC.

Xenix — Microsoft Corporation’s
operating system family based on
UNIX. According to Microsoft,
over half of the current UNIX
licenses are for its Xenix im¬
plementation. Xenix was orig¬
inally based on Version 7, but
Microsoft has made a public com¬
mitment to upgrade the system to
System V compatibility.

Comments, questions, correc¬
tions? Send them to Rosenthals
UNIX Glossary, Box 9291 ,
Berkeley, CA 94709.

Steve Rosenthal is a lexicographer
and writer livng in Berkeley. His
columns regularly appear in six
microcomputer magazines. ■

CCA EMACS.

THE MOST POWERFUL,
EXTENSIBLE SCREEN
EDITOR FOR UNIX
AND VAX/VMS.

No other system editor gives you the power, speed and functionality of CCA
EMACS.™ Or makes editing so easy. Close to 400 built-in commands let you do
any task with only a few keystrokes. Even the kinds of things that are difficult
or impossible to do with other editors. And with our Common Lisp-based
extension language, Elisp7 you can customize CCA EMACS to meet your
program needs.

CCA’s proprietary display management system provides exceptional per¬
formance. Other powerful features include the ability to edit up to 200 files
simultaneously and advanced windowing, which enables you to manage
concurrent processes and move information from one window to another. All
of which makes it easy to revise major software and documentation.

CCA EMACS also has two extensive recovery facilities to protect against
system failures.

Any user can quickly utilize all the power of CCA EMACS. Because if s
supported by both in-depth printed manuals and a full online documentation
package that includes a tutorial.

CCA EMACS runs on Berkeley Unix™ (4.1BSD and 4.2BSD), Bell Unix
(System HI and System V), Xenix™ and VAX/VMS.™It requires 500K of
address space.

Prices for a license range from $380 to $850 for Unix to $1900 for VMS.
Volume discounts and an academic license program are available.

For more information or to get a trial copy, please call our sales staff at
1-800-222-0214. In MA, call (617) 235-2600.

Unix, VAX and VMS and Xenix are trademarks of Bell Laboratories, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Microsoft
Corporation respectively. CCA EMACS and Elisp are trademarks of CCA Uniworks, Inc.

CCA Uniworks, Inc.

A Crowntek Company
20 Williams Street, Wellesley, MA 02181

SEE US AT UNIFORUM, BOOTH 2165

Circle No. 54 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 99

32-BIT SYSTEMS DES

competit

Competitive In Performance.

Arete 1000 series systems
are designed to provide deci¬
sively superior performance in
on-line commercial applications
Designed to fully exploit the
power of modern 32-bit micro¬
processor technology, Arete
1000 systems can clearly out¬
perform VAX 780, DG MV 8000
and similar superminis.

A unique and proprietary
shared-memory, multiprocessor
architecture allows the Arete

Competitive In Features.

Arete 1000 series I/O con¬
trollers support streaming cartridge
tapes, 9-track tape, large capac
ity Winchester disk drives, bit
synchronous, byte synchronous
and asynchronous data com¬
munications, Arete software
includes UNIX System V and
RM/COS operating systems
COBOL, C, FORTRAN, BASIC
and Pascal languages, SNA
and Bisync communications
subsystems.

1000 series systems to offer a
single virtual processor more
than three times as powerful as
other systems employing com¬
parable technologies. That helps
you to support more users with
less hardware. You can see the
results in your bottom line.

A powerful CPU architecture
demands a powerful I/O sub¬
system. Arete's 33.3 megabyte
data transfer bus can support
the demands of 16 to 60 inter¬
active users who not only expect,
but demand, superior perform¬
ance for their investment.

The use of multiple optimized
buses prevents the bottlenecks
found in single bus implementa¬
tions. That keeps Arete resources
working for you instead of being
idle.

See us at UniForum Booth #

Balanced System Architecture

A modularly expandable archi¬
tecture enables Arete 1000
systems to meet a wide range
of performance requirements.
With 1 to 4 processors, 2 to 16
megabytes of memory, and up
to 11 powerful I/O controllers,
you can fit the system to the to
the application without duplicat¬
ing resources or modifying your
applications.

1788

GNED TO GIVE YOU A

IVE EDGE

The Arete’ 1000’s spacious cabinet
accepts any combination of CPU or
memory boards, DMC, orlOCP boards
up to a total of nineteen.

Competitive In Reliability.

Arete systems offer you more
reliability features than any other
computers in the same price
range. Mirrored disks, power
margining, sophisticated diagnos¬
tics, integrated UPS option,
thermal monitoring and superior
manufacturing methods insure
that Arete systems keep work¬
ing for you. That adds up to
fewer service calls and more
satisfied users.

Competitive In Quality.

The 1000 series was designed
to offer you a decisive advantage
in price/performance, cost of
application development, and
cost of ownership. Arete didn’t
sacrifice quality to achieve this
objective. It found innovative
methods for squeezing the last
possible iota of performance
from available technology.

To the ancient Greeks the
word Arete meant excellence in
all things. We felt it would be an
appropriate name for a company
committed to becoming a leader
in providing on-line computer
systems to OEMs, value-added
resellers, and volume end-users.

Diagnostic status panel assists in
diagnosing system problems.

There is only one way to
become leader and remain a
leader... by being committed
to excellence.

If you would like more infor¬
mation about the Arete 1000
series systems, please call or
write Arete Systems Corpora¬
tion, 2040 Hartog Drive, San
Jose, California 95131. (408)
263-971 1.

Excellence in all things

RMICOS is a trademark of Ryan McFarland Corporation.

Circle No. 55 on Inquiry Card

VYSSOTSKY INTERVIEW

For Sale

1512K Memory
Diskette
40 MB Disk
Operating System
2 Programmable Terminals 64K

Printer (not included)

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List: $20,680
Your Cost: $14,615

5200 W. 73RD ST
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55435
(612) 835-4737

CALL TOLL FREE

1 - 800 - 328-7723

Circle No. 57 on Inquiry Card

UNIX PROFESSIONALS

Our clients, nationally based, are
seeking software specialists,
systems engineers, and program¬
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projects both corporate and
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salaries range up to $ 70 , 000 .

We are an executive search firm,
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PLEASE CALL OR SUBMIT
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NEW YORK, N.Y. 10016
212-679-7966

ATTN: MARLENE SAFERSTEIN

Circle No. 56 on Inquiry Card

Continued from Page 70

doesn’t have to have all of the
capabUty of the operating system
in the larger distributed environ¬
ment. I certainly would not expect
an operating system in a PC to
support, for example, photo type-

exnecf* Ut 1 reaI ' y ' by S oll y. do

3 Ron operating system in a
3B20-sized machine to support
photo typesetting. P

, , w To the extent that the capa¬
bility are in the small machine
I want them to operate in a way
consistent with the capabilities in
the larger machines. I want to be
able to operate in an environment
where sometimes I’m huddled
with my small machine in my of¬
fice and sometimes I’m connected
to a network.

REVIEW: You don't want to have
to be concerned about how it looks
different and how you have to do
things differently?

VYSSOTSKY: I don’t want to have
to change gears mentally when I
go from one to the other. For ex¬
ample, I want to be able to do
things like when I use text pro¬
cessing capabilities to handle in¬
formation on personnel matters. I
darn well do not want a wire run¬
ning down the hall to the general
use machine. That exposes the
possibility of a privacy violation. I
want to cut the thing off the net¬
work for that situation. But I don’t
want to have to use a different
editor. That’s only one example.
There are many where I want to
be part of a network or not part of
it. I want to have consistency
throughout. I want to use those
small machines for that purpose
because I do not expect to see a
3B20 sitting in my office and I
wouldn’t want one here even if I
could get it.

REVIEW: Do you have anything to
add to this general speculation
about which areas AT&T will con¬
tinue to support? Clearly, there
is an interest both from your

organization’s and the world’s
point of view in getting UNIX
onto other machines so that it is
more transparent. Computer
managers want to minimize
retraining.

But AT&T is now going into
the computer business and it
would appear counter-productive
to put development effort into sup-
PoNmg other vendors’hardware
At the same time, a company this
arge must need the capability
m-house to run UNIX on various
machines.

VYSSOTSKY: I don’t see the issue
in quite the terms that you couch-
e it. AT&T is a new player in
some parts of the computing
market. Obviously, we have been
in the market for switching gear
and operations support systems
or the telephone companies for
quite some time. To the extent
that we are moving into new
areas, we have to ask ourselves,
‘What about our products and our
product strategy would make the
customers want to buy them?”
And, being technically great by
itself and even technically great
and attractively priced by itself is
probably not enough. You know,
it just is not true that if you invent
a better mousetrap, the world will
beat a path to your door. It doesn’t
happen that way.

We have technically fine pro¬
ducts. I think that they are priced
very attractively but then we have
to ask, “What on top of that is go¬
ing to make that big world out
there want our products rather
than somebody else’s?” The thing
that we can offer is we can provide
with the UNIX operating system a
very fine programming environ¬
ment that spreads across all sorts
of vendors’ products. Thus, a
system builder, an OEM vendor,
an end user who buys our pro¬
ducts and uses them for creating
his application gets tremendous
flexibility. This includes flexibili¬
ty to take advantage of our full

102 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

OUR 5620TERMINAL WILL CHANGE
THE WAY YOU VEW YOUR UNIX SYSTEM.

If you want to get the most out of your UNIX System, get the single terminal that performs
like six—the 5620 Dot-Mapped Display from Teletype Corporation. This terminal is an exceptional
value because it offers graphics and capabilities you’d expect to find only in
higher-priced workstations.

With its unique capability to divide the display into six windows, the
5620 makes excellent use of UNIX System V resources to greatly improve
productivity. You create and control the size and position of each window
simply using the electronic “Mouse.” Unmodified host programs then view
the windows as separate terminals, making it possible for you to work on
several things at once.

Just think how much easier that’d make it for you to prepare docu¬
ments and graphics, do computer aided engineering or write and debug

programs. Imagine, for
example, while a pro¬
gram is compiling in

one window, you edit the source code
in a second window, check output in a third
window, and send and receive mail concurrently
in a fourth window.

The 15-inch diagonal display boasts

*-*****

with a full 32-bit processor and up to one mega
byte of memory, you can also offload the host

by running programs in the 5620.

As good as the 5620 makes Teletype
Corporation look, it can make you look even bet¬
ter. To find out how, write Teletype Corporation,
5555 Tbuhy Ave., Dept. 3223-00, Skokie, IL
60077. Or call 1 800 323-1229, ext. 615.

TELETYPE: VALUE SETS US APART.

“Teletype” is a registered trademark and service mark of Teletype Corporation.

*UNIX is a trademark of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.

AT&T

Teletype Corporation

Circle No. 58 on Inquiry Card

VYSSOTSKY INTERVIEW

product line but also the flexibili¬
ty to use the products of other ven¬
dors in sensible ways.

We are realistic enough to
know that this is a new game for
us and that most of our customers
will use other vendors’ products
as well as ours. It would be silly of
us to try to discourage customers
from doing that. Rather, what we
want the customer to do is to use
other vendors’ products in a way
that gets synergy from their use of
our products. That’s good for the
customer and it’s good for us. So,

I don’t view it as an either/or ques¬
tion between supporting UNIX on
our equipment or supporting
UNIX on other vendors’ equip¬
ment. We want to support our
customers in a way that makes it

attractive to our customers to use
our products.

REVIEW: Do you have any
speculations about the future of
the UNIX market?

VYSSOTSKY: The only speculation
I can offer you is not even a
speculation, but rather a view¬
point on how things are going to
evolve. Let me start out by recall¬
ing to you that until very recently
in Bell Laboratories and other
companies that I am familiar with,
the decisions on what hardware to
procure, what types of terminals
to use, what kind of software to
use, what sort of applications the
organization could run were not
the kinds of decisions usually
made by end users. Financial in¬

formation came up on a standard
3270-type terminal because some
data processing manager decided
that was the variety of terminal
the report would show up on. The
trend I see more and more is
caused by two major factors: the
declining cost of workstations and
personal computers, and the
increasing level of computer
literacy. End users can now exer¬
cise a voice about what hardware
they want to see and what applica¬
tion should run and how the stuff
should look.

REVIEW: All of which is new . In a
way, you could almost couch it in
terms of increased freedom of
choice .

VYSSOTSKY: Yes. For example,
the trend is towards more
sophisticated terminals with bit¬
mapped displays, good graphics
capability, and color. I think the
trend is largely driven by end
users. Choices like that used to be
made by the EDP vice president,
while the people sitting at the
terminals were effectively clerks.
The clerks really had very little ef¬
fective leverage on the question of
whether they liked the way the
display appeared.

When the end user is no
longer a clerk but a line manager
and when the terminal is no
longer a conventional old fashion¬
ed terminal but something with
capability of its own, the line
manager will say, “I’m not going
to look at this. I don’t like this.”
You see what is happening here;
it’s happening all over the place.
For example, I had a department
head who doesn’t happen to like
the display format he gets from
the administrative system. So he
goes and gets a workstation or a
personal computer. He dumps the
output information from the stan¬
dard administration system into
the personal computer, rearranges
it to suit himself and puts it up on
a display he can understand. That

Even Holmes Couldn’t Find
His Listings

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detective to know that
unmarked listings can be
criminally hard to find.

That’s why Beach Software
developed EDGEWRiTER™,
a software product that
labels all your listings,
as they’re being printed.

EDGEWRITER™ determines
the size of your listings,
and then prints any

message you want on
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And it prints large,
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EDGEWRITER is a trademark of Beach Software

Circle No. 59 on Inquiry Card

104 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

MCBA

introduces

shrink-to-fit

With nine years in
minicomputer software,

15,000 installations worldwide
and an established reputation in
the mini world, MCBA is proudly
shrinking its software line.

Down to micro size.

We’ve taken the impressive power
of minicomputer software and made it
available for micros. Right now.

Alter the fit? Absolutely.

Alter the functionality, modularity
and capability? Not one bit... so to speak.

This new line of serious micro¬
computer software is by far the most com¬
prehensive, well-tested and sophisticated
in the industry today. By whose standards?
Thousands of MCBA users who rank it the best
in the business. i— 11 —i

MCBA’s library of 16 inte- U n

grated manufacturing, distribution . I .
and accounting packages can be
installed in whatever combination

and sequence a user needs
for his or her business.

It grows with
businesses. No matter
what size they are now.

Or want to be later.

And MCBA software
now runs in RM/COS,®
PC-DOS, UNIX™
and UNIX look-alike
environments.

In other words,
we’ve tailor-made our
newest software to fit
micros—as comfortably
as it fits user needs.

So whether you’re a dealer or
a user, find out about it. Call
1-800-MCBA NOW (toll
free outside of California). In
California, call (818) 957-2900.

MCBA’s shrink-to-fit software.
For growing businesses.

Minicomputer Software for Micros.

* 2441 Honolulu Avenue, Montrose, California 91020

Also for DEC, Wang, HP, TI, and Perkin-Elmer minis.

MCBA is a registered trademark of MCBA, Inc. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T. RM/COS is a registered trademark of Ryan-McFarland Corp.

See Us At ffiUniFomm January 21-25 • INFOMART • Dallas, Texas • Booth #2659

the International Conference Of UNIX Users

UR185

Circle Mo. 60 on Inquiry Card

FOSE Software '85 is the only conference and exposition
designed specifically for professional users in business, DOD,
and government.

Four full days of conference... three full days of
exposition ... FOSE Software is your best opportunity to learn
all about the latest software for MIS applications, networking,
data base management systems, Ada, micros, artificial
intelligence, computer graphics, UNIX, and more.

Thousands of business and government professionals will
be at the Washington Convention Center March 4-7—hundreds
of America's most important software vendors will be
demonstrating the latest in applications software. It shouldn't
take an Albert Einstein to tell you that you should be there, too!

Send in the coupon today for complete information on
FOSE Software '85, or call 800-638-8510. In Metropolitan
Washington use 703-683-8500.

is my vision of the end user being
in control, which is my vision of
the way the future is going.

The thing that I think is im¬
portant about that is that it makes
it very difficult for people like me
to predict what is going to happen
in the marketplace. Things used
to be largely constrained by the
question of what a relatively small
number of people in vendor
management and user companies
decided. To the extent that the
users have become the driving
force, predicting the computer
market becomes almost like
predicting the evolution of the
consumer market—which is
notoriously difficult.

REVIEW: It’s slightly different ,
though, since this is an educated
consumer market.

National Trade Productions, Inc.

2111 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 400
Alexandria Virginia 22314

I want your free FOSE Software '85 information as
soon as possible.

□ Conference □ Exposition □ Exhibiting
Name_

Organization-

Address_

City/State/Zip.
Telephone_

March 4-7,1985

Washington, D.C. Convention Center

122

Software

THE ONLY CONFERENCE AND EXPOSITION
DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR
PROFESSIONAL USERS
IN GOVERNMENT, DOD, AND BUSINESS.

VYSSOTSKY: I think that most con¬
sumers are educated consumers.
When I buy a TV set, I may not
know much about how TV sets are
designed, but I know what I want
in a TV. You are right that we’re
talking about an educated con¬
sumer market but I don’t think
that distinguishes it much from
the market for automobiles or
anything like that. I think it is very
different from a market in which
one person makes a decision for
300 other people, so it becomes
hard to predict. It also means that
the market has a chance to evolve
in ways that are satisfactory to the
end user. I think it also offers an
opportunity for UNIX systems to
spread even more rapidly than
they have in the past, precisely
because the UNIX system is such
a nice programming environment
that it is well adapted to the end
user world.

Note that I haven’t said where
the market will go but that I have
said that the market will make its
own choices. ■

Circle Mo. 61 on Inquiry Card

106 UNIX REVIEW JAMUARY 1985

Environmentalists

Whatever your
environment.

Lachman Associates, Inc.
provides programming serv¬
ices with expertise in your
software environment. LAI
is more than 50 consult¬
ants, bringing together
several hundred man-years
of experience to meet your
software development
needs.

ing system • advanced
graphics software. Our
related services include
market studies, product
analysis, customized
technical training,
documentation and
software research and
development.

Your place or ours.

LAI depth and experience,
gained from these varied
projects, works for you in
many ways. Our know¬
ledgeable consultants work
to supplement your staff
under your management,
with focused experience
that delivers from day one.
We can also provide com¬
plete project design and
development, from initial
analysis through coding to
complete documentation,
using our own technical
supervision.

Put the LAI team s
experience to work for
you . . . whatever your
environment.

See us at UniForum
Booth # 2347

Varied systems
and proven
experience.

We provide complete devel¬
opment services for hire.
Our expertise spans all of
the major microprocessor,
minicomputer and System/
370 operating systems. LAI
has been instrumental in a
number of UNIX ports, as
well as major projects
involving: • high-reliability
operating systems develop¬
ment • a distributed
transaction processing sys¬
tem • development of a

• compilers • advanced
debuggers • comprehen¬
sive support for UTS

• enhanced features for
MVS and JES • a multi¬
processor architecture eval
uation • system perform-

ance measure-
™ ments • develop
M ment of a heter¬
ogenous network

new UNIX-like operating
system • local area net¬
works using Ethernet and
TCP/IP • inter-netting
SNA and non-IBM hosts

• distributed file system

research • a terminal front
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Circle No. 62 on Inquiry Card

BERKELEY UNDERGROUND

Continued from Page 44

was gone by blanking it out. We
also wanted the line-erase
character to display a blanked-out
line. Some UNIX systems such as
4.2 BSD and System V now sup¬
port this, but it was not then
available anywhere under UNIX
Version 6.

Bob and I had argued,
somewhat sleepily, for hours as to
the correct method of erasing
characters, and Bob had started
putting our joint design into effect
just as I collapsed on the floor for
“a short nap”. I awoke around
dawn to find Bob asleep over the
terminal. When he woke up, he
said he was pretty sure he’d finish¬
ed the job before falling asleep, but
neither of us had enough energy
to check. It was time for food and
14 hours of sleep.

When we finally checked our
handiwork the next day, we found
some serious flaws in the im¬
plementation — not an uncom¬
mon situation with work perform¬
ed under extreme conditions. But
the system was up and running,
and although the new features
were flawed, they didn’t seem to
cause any problems, so we forgot
about it for the time being. A week
later, I was consulting in Cory —
we all offered free programming
help to other students in the time-
honored tradition of hackers
everywhere — when Kurt Schoens
called me over to the other side of
the room.

‘‘Hey Doug,” he said. “Look at
this. It looks like someone tried to
put character deletion into the ter¬
minal drivers, but only half finish¬
ed.”

My heart raced. Did he

suspect me? Or was he just chat¬
ting? I could never tell whether
Kurt was kidding; he had the most
perfect poker face I had ever seen.
But he quickly made the question
academic, and proved again that
he was one of Them.

‘‘I showed this to Bill, and he
wanted to fix it”, Kurt said. ‘‘Oh,
really?” I stammered. ‘‘Sounds
good to me,” thinking that it was
a real stroke of luck that Bill Joy
would be interested in the half-
completed project. If Bill finished
it, then it would be in the system
on legitimate grounds, and would
stay for good.

Kurt paused for effect. ‘‘Yeah,
he was all fired up about it, but I
talked him out of it, and I just
deleted it from the system in¬
stead.”

Oh, cruel fate! Kurt must
know that I was involved; he just

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Circle No. 63 on Inquiry Card

108 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

wanted to see me jump when he
said “boo!”

Although I’m sure Kurt
thought the whole incident very
funny, all I could think of was that
yet another of my features had
gone down the drain. I discussed
this latest setback with others in
the group, and we shared a sense
of frustration. More than ever
before, we were determined to get
our contributions accepted
somehow.

Kurt was both a graduate stu¬
dent and a system administrator,
but I liked him all the same —
chiefly because of his practical
jokes. We had recently cooperated
in a spontaneous demonstration of
Artificial Intelligence at the ex¬
pense of an undergraduate named
Dave who had joined Them as a
system administrator. Dave had
watched Kurt as he typed pwd to
his shell prompt and received
usr/kurt/mind as the response.
His next command had been
mind -i -1 english . During all this
time, Kurt was double-talking
about psychology and natural
language processing and some
new approach to simulating the
human mind that he’d thought of.
Dave looked dubious, but was will¬
ing to see how well Kurt’s pro¬
gram worked.

What Dave didn’t realize was
that Kurt had not been typing
commands to the system at all;
although we were sitting not 10
feet apart, Kurt and I had been
writing to each other and chatting
for half an hour, and as a joke I
had been pretending I was Kurt’s
shell, sending him prompts and
faking responses to commands.
Dave had walked in at just the
right time. So when Kurt typed
mind -i T english , I had natural¬
ly responded with:

“Synthetic Cognition System, ver¬
sion 17.8”

Interactive mode on,
Language = english”
“Please enter desired conversational
topic: (default:philosophy)”

Dave couldn’t help looking a little
impressed; Kurt’s “artificial in¬
telligence” system was off to a
great start. Kurt had talked to his
budding mind for several minutes,
and Dave of course had grown
more and more impressed. Kurt
and I faced the greatest challenge
of our lives in keeping a straight
face during the demonstration,
but we eventually made the
mistake of making the mind
altogether TOO smart to be
believable, in effect sending Dave
off to tackle more serious work.

There was one practical joke
that was notable for the length of
time it was supported by the en¬
tire group. The target was system
administrator Dave Mosher. Dave
had been suspicious of bugs in our
system’s homebrewed terminal
multiplexer for some time. Ross
decided to persecute Dave by hav¬
ing random characters appear on
his screen from time to time,
which of course convinced Dave
that the terminal multiplexer did
indeed have problems. To help
Ross with the prank, each of us
sent Dave some garbage char¬
acters at random intervals
whenever any one of us was on the
system. We had settled on the let¬
ter “Q” so that Dave would be sure
it was always the same bug show¬
ing the same symptom. Since
Dave had these problems no mat¬
ter which terminal he was on, day
or night, no matter who else was
logged onto the system, he was
positive there was a problem, and
he spent much time and effort try¬
ing to get someone to fix it.

Unfortunately for Dave, he
was the only one who ever saw
these symptoms, so everyone
thought he was a little paranoid.
We thought it was pretty funny at
first, but after a few months of
this, it seemed that Dave was real¬
ly getting rattled, so one day Ross
generated a capital “Q” as big as
the entire terminal screen and
sent it to Dave’s screen. This made
it pretty obvious to poor Dave that

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Circle No. 64 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 109

BERKELEY UNDERGROUND

someone, somehow, really had
been persecuting him, and that he
wasn’t paranoid after all. He had
an understandably low tolerance
for practical jokes after that.

The numerous practical jokes
we played were probably a reac¬
tion to the high level of stress we
felt from our ongoing illicit opera¬
tions; it provided some moments
of delightful release from what
was, at times, a grim battle. There
were many secret battles in the
war; if Our motto was “Features!”,
Theirs was “Security for Securi¬
ty’s Sake” and the more the bet¬
ter. We were never sure how long
our victories would last; on the
other hand. They were never sure
whether They had won. The war
lasted almost three years.

We were primarily interested

in the EECS department’s PDP
11/70 in Cory Hall, since that was
the original UNIX site and con¬
tinued to be the hotbed of UNIX
development, but We “collected”
all the other UNIX systems on
campus, too. One peculiar aspect
of the way the Underground had
to operate was that we rarely
knew the root password on
systems to which we had gained
superuser access. This is because
there were easier ways to get into,
and stay into, a system than
guessing the root password. We
tampered, for instance, with the
su program so that it would make
someone superuser when given
our own secret password as well
as when given the usual root
password, which remained
unknown to us. In the early days,

one system administrator would
mail a new root password to all the
other system administrators on
the system, apparently not realiz¬
ing that we were monitoring their
mail for exactly this kind of securi¬
ty slip. Sadly, they soon guessed
that this was not a good pro¬
cedure, and we had to return to
functioning as “password-less
superusers”, which at times could
be a bit inconvenient.

Late one night on Cory Hall
UNIX, as I was using my il¬
legitimate superuser powers to
browse through protected but in¬
teresting portions of the system, I
happened to notice a suspicious-
looking file called usr/adm/su.
This was suspicious because there
were almost never any new files in
the administrative usr/adm direc¬
tory. If 1 was suspicious when I
saw the filename, I was half
paralyzed when I saw it contain¬
ed a full record of every command
executed by anyone who had
worked as superuser since the
previous day, and I was in a full
state of shock when I found, at the
end of the file, a record of all the
commands that I’d executed dur¬
ing my current surreptitious ses¬
sion, up to and including reading
the damning file.

It took me perhaps 10 min¬
utes of panic-stricken worry before
I realized that I could edit the
record and delete all references to
my illicit commands. I then im¬
mediately logged out and warned
all other members of the group.
Since nothing illicit ever appeared,
the system administrators were
lulled into a sense of false securi¬
ty. Their strategy worked brilliant¬
ly for us, allowing us to work in
peace for quite a while before the
next set of traps were laid.

The next potential trap I
found was another new file in
/usr/adm called password, that
kept track of all unsuccessful at¬
tempts to login as root or to su to
root, and what password was used

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110 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

Circle No. 65 on Inquiry Card

REMEMBER THE
REVOLUTION?

The Unix revolution is a reality in the United States.
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But what’s done is done and history doesn’t repeat
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Show ring Mario Meoli, Exhibition
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BERKELEY UNDERGROUND

in the attempt. Since none of us
had known the root password for
months and therefore weren’t go¬
ing to become superuser by any¬
thing as obvious as logging in as
root, this wasn’t particularly
threatening to us, but it was very
interesting. The first few days that
we watched the file it showed
attempts by legitimate system ad¬
ministrators who had made
mistakes of various sorts. One of
Them once gave a password that
We discovered, through trial and
error, to be the root password on
a different system. Several of
Them gave passwords that seem¬
ed to be the previous root
password. Most of them were
misspellings of the correct root
password. Needless to say, this
was a rather broad hint, and it

took Us less than five minutes to
ascertain what the correct spelling
was.

One might think that, since
we had several ways to become
superuser anyway, it wouldn’t
make any real difference whether
or not we knew the actual root
password as well. The problem
was that our methods worked on¬
ly so long as nothing drastically
changed in the system; the usual
way that They managed to win a
battle was to backup the entire
system from tape and recompile
all utilities. That sometimes set Us
back weeks, since it undid all of
our “backdoors” into superuser-
dom, forcing us to start from
ground zero on breaking into the
system again. But once we knew
the root password, we could

always use that as a starting place.

We worked very hard to stay
one step ahead of Them, and we
spent most of our free time
reading source code, in search of
either pure knowledge or another
weapon for the battle. At one time,
I had modified every single utility
that ran as superuser with some
kind of hidden feature that could
be triggered to give us superuser
powers. Chuck Haley once sent a
letter to Jeff Schriebman com¬
menting that he “had even found
the card reader program” to show
signs of tampering. I thought that
I had disguised it well, but it was
extremely difficult to keep things
hidden from a group of system ad¬
ministrators who were not only
very intelligent, but also highly
knowledgeable about the inner

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Circle IVJo. 66 on Inquiry Card

112 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

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Circle No. 67 on Inquiry Card

BERKELEY UNDERGROUND

workings of UNIX. As an indica¬
tion of the caliber of the people we
were working against, I should
note that Chuck Haley is now a
researcher at Bell Labs; Bill Joy
is VP of Engineering at Sun Micro¬
systems; Kurt Schoens is a re¬
searcher at IBM; Jeff Schriebman
is founder and President of
UniSoft; and Bob Kridle, Vance
Vaughn, and Ed Gould are
founders of Mt. Xinu.

This was an unusual situa¬
tion; system administrators are
not usually this talented. Other¬
wise, they’d be doing software
development rather than admin¬
istration. But at the time, there
was no one else capable of doing
UNIX system administration.

As a result, we had to move
quickly, quietly, and cleverly to
stay ahead, and planting devious
devices in the midst of standard
software was our primary tech¬
nique. Normally trusted programs
which have been corrupted in this
way are called “Trojan Horses”,
after the legend of the Greeks who
were taken in by a bit of misplaced
trust. One of our favorite tricks for
hiding our tracks when we modi¬
fied standard utilities was the
diddlei program, which allowed
us to reset the last change time on
a modified file so that it appeared
to have been unchanged since the
previous year. Bob modified the
setuid system call in the UNIX
kernel so that, under certain cir¬
cumstances, it would give the pro¬
gram that used it root privileges.
The “certain circumstances” con¬
sisted simply of leaving a capital
“S” (for Superuser) in one of the
machine’s registers. Bob was bold
enough to leave this little feature
in the system’s source code. We
usually put our Trojan Horses in
the system executables only — to
decrease the chance of it being
noticed. But Bob took the chance
so that the feature would persist
even if the system were recompil¬
ed. Sure enough, it lasted for

m UNIA REVIEW JANUARY 1?05

several months and through more
than one system compilation
before Dave Mosher noticed it (un¬
doubtedly with a sense of shock)
as he was patiently adding com¬
ments to the previously un¬
documented kernel.

This sort of battling continued
for several years, and although
They were suspicious of most of
Us at one time or another, none of
Us was ever caught red-handed. It
undoubtedly helped that we never
performed any malicious acts. We
perhaps flouted authority, but we
always enhanced the system’s
features. We never interfered with
the system’s normal operation,
nor damaged any user’s files. We
learned that absolute power need
not corrupt absolutely; instead it
taught us restraint.

This is probably why we were
eventually accepted as members
of the system staff, even though
by then several of Us had confess¬
ed to our nefarious deeds. Once we
were given license to modify and
improve UNIX, we lost all motiva¬
tion to crack system security. We
didn’t know it at the time, but this
has long been known to be one of
the most effective ways of dealing
with security problems: hire the
offenders, so that there is no more
Us versus Them, but simply Us.

It worked well in our case;
under the auspices of the System
Development and Research
Group, created by the ever-
industrious Dave Mosher, we went
happily to work on UNIX develop¬
ment. The development of UNIX
at Berkeley, always fast-paced,
exploded once everyone — in¬
cluding undergraduates — were
participating.

The only fly in the ointment
was the introduction a short while
later of UNIX Version 7. While it
was a vast improvement in many
ways over the Version 6 that we
had been working with, most of
the enhancements we had
developed were lost in the

changeover. Some were re¬
implemented under Version 7 by
those of the group who remained
at Berkeley, but by then many of
us were leaving school, and the
impetus behind our ideas left with
us.

Ken Arnold is, perhaps, the
most famous of our original group.
He stayed at Berkeley longer than
any of the rest of us, and became
well known for such contributions
as Termlib, curses,fortune, Mille
Bourne, and of course his co¬
authorship of Rogue. But some¬
how it seemed a Pyrrhic victory
even for Ken; much of his best
work in the early years never saw
the light of day.

We could not help but feel
that we had passed through a sort
of Dark Age for UNIX develop¬
ment, and even with the
Renaissance in full bloom, We
ponder what might have been,
and bewail the features that UNIX
will now never have._

Doug Merritt became one of the
earliest UNIX users outside Bell
Laboratories while attending UC
Berkeley in 1976. He helped to debug
termcap and contributed to the
development of vi and curses. Mr.
Merritt now works as a consultant
in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bob Toxen is a member of the
technical staff at Silicon Graphics,
Inc., who has gained a reputation as
a leading expert on uucp com¬
munications, file system repair and
UNIX utilities. He has also done
ports of System III and System V
to systems based on the Zilog 8000
and Motorola 68010 chips.

Best known as the author of
curses and co-author of Rogue, Ken
Arnold was also President of the
Berkeley Computer Club and the
Computer Science Undergraduates
Association during his years at UC
Berkeley. He currently works as a
programmer in the Computer
Graphics Lab at UC San Francisco
and serves as a member of the UNIX
REVIEW Software Review Board. ■

Building New UNIX Networks

Mainframes to Micros

I NTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
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Announced To Date

First, INTERACTIVE introduced the Work¬
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running as extensions to DEC’S VMS oper¬
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INTERACTIVE operating systems. Both
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At the 1983 Fall COMDEX, SCI Systems
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which is a version of IS/3 with INed. SCI
offers INmail and INnet as applications.

At the UNIFORUM show in early 1984,
IBM demonstrated PC/IX, a version of IS/3
with INed, on the IBM PC XT, IBM PC
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In June, IB M announced that INmail, IN net,

and INfort, INTERACTIVE’s Fortran 77
compiler, were available as applications
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IX, aversion of IS/3 with INed, which runs
as a guest operating system on their Vir¬
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And at the fall Expo ’84 in LA and UNIX
Expo in NYC, IBM announced and demon¬
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UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories. DEC. VMS, PDP, and VAX are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. !N/ix is a trademark of
INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark oflntemational Business Machines Corporation.

Circle No. 68 on Inquiry Card

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Continued from Page 28

improved productivity. According
to Canaday, no one had yet been
able to provide statistical evidence
showing that timesharing was
more productive than batch pro¬
cessing. In all the studies, the
difference between individual
programmers was greater than
the difference between time¬
sharing and batch processing. But
the subjective evidence was that
timesharing was superior. That
evidence, in time, prevailed.
Regardless of any “proof’, the
users wanted UNIX and their
management gave it to them.
What has since become a univer¬
sal pattern for the spread of
UNIX was already underway. As
Canaday put it, “The reason
people are so devoted to UNIX is
that Ken and Dennis wanted to
build something that they would
enjoy using, and they succeeded.”

Dick Haight agrees. “I don’t
believe UNIX is Utopia. It’s just
the best set of tools around. I think
the reason they’re as good as they
are is they weren’t invented by
some committee sitting down and
saying ‘we ought to have an editor
and a move command and a copy
command and a diff command.’ It
was done by people who needed
these things and who worked
together in a little room where
they could complain to each other
immediately when something was
done that was inconsistent with
the spirit of things. Right from the
start, Thompson and Ritchie put
people on UNIX who had real
work to do. In a way, it was done
in a vacuum — just their little
coterie in Bell Labs research, but
these people turned out to be a
very representative set.”

Two tracks of UNIX expan¬
sion within Bell — the UNIX
Development Support department
and the Programmers Workbench
group — merged in 1975 under
the Users’ Support Group
heading.

LETTIMG GO

Somewhat earlier, there also
had been a movement to release
Research UNIX to the outside
world. Universities, in particular,
had heard of it and were very in¬
terested. Berkley Tague, sensitive
to the real requirements of sup¬
port, opposed the idea. “I was very
concerned that some bank in the
Midwest would put its payrolls on
UNIX and get in terrible trouble.
The fact is that didn’t happen. It
went to a few technical shops; it
went to universities; it was very
influential in all the places it
should be influential. The people
who picked it up were, by and
large, people who could deal with
the kind of support we offered —

or didn’t offer, if you’d like to put
it that way. That was when we
basically said, ‘Here’s a tape; take
it.’

“If you’d asked me at the time
if releasing UNIX to the univer¬
sities was a good idea, I would
have said no. I have been very
grateful since then, particularly
when hiring new people, that no
one paid any attention to me.”

August Mohr is former editor
of the /usr/group newsletter,
CommUNIXations. He is currently
acting as a consultant and develop¬
ing in-house utilities for electronic
publishing. He is also at work on a
book. ■

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UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 117

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

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•UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories.

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Circle No. 70 on Inquiry Card

Continued, from Page 28

V, both products of the develop¬
ment group. All research versions
were “as is,” unsupported soft¬
ware; System V is a supported
product on several different hard¬
ware lines, most recently in¬
cluding the 3B systems designed
and built by AT&T.

UNIX is in wide use, and is
now even spoken of as a possible
industry standard. How did it
come to succeed?

There are, of course, its
technical merits. Because the
system and its history have been
discussed at some length in the
literature [6, 7, 11], I will not talk
about these qualities except for
one. Despite its frequent surface
inconsistency, so colorfully an¬
notated by Don Norman in his
Datamation article [4] and despite
its richness, UNIX is a simple,
coherent system that pushes a few
good ideas and models to the limit.
It is this aspect of the system,
above all, that endears it to its
adherents.

Beyond technical considera¬
tions, there were sociological
forces that contributed to its suc¬
cess. First, it appeared at a time
when alternatives to large, cen¬
trally administered computation
centers were becoming possible;
the 1970s were the decade of the
minicomputer. Small groups
could set up their own computa¬
tional facilities. Because they were
starting afresh, and because
manufacturers’ software was, at
best, unimaginative and often
horrible, some adventuresome
people were willing to take a
chance on a new and intriguing,
even though unsupported,
operating system.

Second, UNIX was first
available on the PDP-11, one of
the most successful of the new
minicomputers that appeared in
the 1970s, and soon its portability
brought it to many new machines
as they appeared. At the time

that UNIX was created, we were
pushing hard for a machine, either
a DEC PDP-10 or SDS (later Xerox)
Sigma 7. It is certain, in retro¬
spect, that if we had succeeded in
acquiring such a machine, UNIX
might have been written but
would have withered away.
Similarly, UNIX owes much to
Multics [5], I have described
[6, 7], it eclipsed its parent as
much because it does not demand
unusual hardware support as
because of any other qualities.

Finally, UNIX enjoyed an
unusually long gestation period.
During much of this time (say
1969-1979), the system was effec¬
tively under the control of its
designers and being used by
them. It took time to develop
all of the ideas and software, but
even though the system was still
being developed, people were
using it, both inside Bell Labs,
and outside under license. Thus,
we managed to keep the central
ideas in hand, while accumulating
a base of enthusiastic, technically
competent users who contributed
ideas and programs in a calm,
communicative, and noncompeti¬
tive environment. Some outside
contributions were substantial,
such as those from the University
of California at Berkeley. Our
users were widely, though thinly,
distributed within the company,
at universities, and at some
commercial and government
organizations. The system be¬
came important in the intellec¬
tual, if not yet commercial,
marketplace because of this net¬
work of early users.

What does industrial compu¬
ter science research consist of?
Some people have the impression
that the original UNIX work was
a bootleg project, a “skunk
works”. This is not so. Research
workers are supposed to discover
or invent new things, and
although in the early days we
subsisted on meager hardware,

118 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

we always had management en¬
couragement. At the same time,
it was certainly nothing like a
development project. Our intent
was to create a pleasant com¬
puting environment for ourselves,
and our hope was that others
liked it.

The Computing Science
Research Center at Bell Lab¬
oratories to which Thompson and
I belong studies three broad areas:
theory; numerical analysis; and
system, languages, and software.
Although work for its own sake
resulting, for example, in a paper
in a learned journal, is not only
tolerated but welcomed, there is
strong though wonderfully subtle
pressure to think about problems
somehow relevant to our corpora¬
tion. This has been so since I join¬
ed Bell Labs around 15 years ago,
and it should not be surprising,
the old Bell System may have
seemed a sheltered monopoly, but
research has always had to pay its
way. Indeed, researchers love to
find problems to work on; one of
the advantages of doing research
in a large company is the enor¬
mous range of the puzzles that
turn up. For example, theorists
may contribute to compiler
design, or to LSI algorithms;
numerical analysts study charge
and current distribution in
semiconductors; and, of course,
software types like to design
systems and write programs that
people use. Thus, computer
research at Bell Labs has always
had considerable commitment to
the world, and does not fear edicts
commanding us to be practical.

For some of us, in fact, a prin¬
cipal frustration has been the
inability to convince others
that our research products can
indeed be useful. Someone may
invent a new application, write an
illustrative program, and put it to
use in our own lab. Many such
demonstrations require further
development and continuing sup¬

port in order for the company to
make best use of them. In the
past, this use would have been
exclusively inside the Bell System;
more recently, there is the possi¬
bility of developing a product for
direct sale.

For example, some years ago
Mike Lesk developed an auto¬
mated directory-assistance
system [3]. The program had an
online Bell Labs phone book, and
was connected to a voice syn¬
thesizer on a telephone line with
a tone decoder. One dialed the
system, and keyed in a name and
location code on the telephone’s
key pad; it spoke back the per¬
son’s telephone number and office
address (it didn’t attempt to pro¬

nounce the name). In spite of the
hashing through 12 buttons
(which, for example, squashed
“A”, “B” and “C” together), it was
acceptably accurate: it had to give
up on around 5 percent of the
tries. The program was a local hit
and well-used. Unfortunately, we
couldn’t find anyone to take it
over, even as a supported service
within the company, let alone a
public offering, and it was an ex¬
cessive drain on our resources, so
it was finally scrapped. (I chose
this example not only because it
is old enough not to exacerbate
any current squabbles, but also
because it is timely: the organiza¬
tion that publishes the company
telephone directory recently asked

...erioueh said

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Jan. 21 to 25
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UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 119

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

us whether the system could be
revived.)

Of course not every ides, is
worth developing or supporting.
In any event, the world is
changing: our ideas and advice are
being sought much more avidly
than before. This increase in
influence has been going on for
several years, partly because of
the success of UNIX, but more
recently, because of the dramatic
alteration of the structure of our
company.

AT&T divested its telephone
operating companies at the be¬
ginning of 1984. There has been
considerable public speculation
about what this will mean for
fundamental research at Bell

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Circle No. 73 on Inquiry Card

Laboratories; one report in
Science [2] is typical. One fear
sometimes expressed is that basic
research, in general, may languish
because it yields insufficient short¬
term gains to the new, smaller
AT&T. The public position of the
company is reassuring: moreover,
research management at Bell
Labs seems to believe deeply,
and argues persuasively, that the
commitment of support to basic
research is deep and will continue

Fundamental research at Bell
Labs in physics, chemistry, and
mathematics may, indeed, not be
threatened; nevertheless, the
danger it might face, and the case
against which it must be prepared

Circle No. 74 on Inquiry Card

to argue, is that of irrelevance to
the goals of the company. Com¬
puter science research is different
from these more traditional
disciplines. Philosophically it
differs from the physical sciences
because it seeks not to discover,
explain, or exploit the natural
world, but instead to study the
properties of machines of human
creation. In this it is analogous to
mathematics, and indeed the
science part of computer
science is, for the most part,
mathematical in spirit. But an
inevitable aspect of computer
science is the creation of computer
programs: objects that, though
intangible, are subject to commer¬
cial exchange.

More than anything else, the

greatest danger to good computer

science research today may be
excessive relevance. Evidence for

the worldwide fascination with

computers is everywhere, from
the articles on the financial, and
even the front pages of the news¬
papers, to the difficulties that even
the most prestigious universities
experience in finding and keeping

faculty in computer science. The

best professors, instead of
teaching bright students, join

start-up companies, and often

discover that their brightest
students have preceded them.
Computer science is in the
limelight, especially those aspects,
such as systems, languages, and
machine architecture, that may

have immediate commercial appli¬
cations. The attention is flattering,
but it can work to the detriment of
good research.

As the intensity of research in
a particular area increases, so does
the impulse to keep its results
secret. This is true even in the
university (Watson’s account [12]
of the discovery of the structure
of DNA provides a well-known ex¬
ample), although in academia
there is a strong counterpressure:
unless one publishes, one never

120 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

...enough said.

See us at:
UniForum
Dallas

Jan. 21 to 25
Booth 2959

Fulcrum Technologies Inc.
331 Cooper Street,
Ottawa, Canada
K2P0G5
(613)238-1761

Circle No. 71 on Inquiry Card

UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 119

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

us whether the system could be
revived.)

Of course not every idea is
worth developing or supporting.
In any event, the world is
changing: our ideas and advice are
being sought much more avidly
than before. This increase in
influence has been going on for
several years, partly because of
the success of UNIX, but more
recently, because of the dramatic
alteration of the structure of our
company.

AT&T divested its telephone
operating companies at the be¬
ginning of 1984. There has been
considerable public speculation
about what this will mean for
fundamental research at Bell

Laboratories: one report in
Science [2] is typical. One fear
sometimes expressed is that basic
research, in general, may languish
because it yields insufficient short-
term gains to the new, smaller
AT&T. The public position of the
company is reassuring: moreover,
research management at Bell
Labs seems to believe deeply,
and argues persuasively, that the
commitment of support to basic
research is deep and will continue
[ 1 ].

Fundamental research at Bell
Labs in physics, chemistry, and
mathematics may, indeed, not be
threatened; nevertheless, the
danger it might face, and the case
against which it must be prepared

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*Unix is a trademark of Bell Laboratories

Circle No. 73 on Inquiry Card

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(609) 896-8484
(800) 222-0596

Representing
EOE Companies

'UNIX is a trademark of Bell Labs

Circle No. 74 on Inquiry Card

More than anything else, the
greatest danger to good computer
science research today may be
excessive relevance. Evidence for

the worldwide fascination with
computers is everywhere, from
the articles on the financial, and
even the front pages of the news¬
papers, to the difficulties that even
the most prestigious universities
experience in finding and keeping
faculty in computer science. The
best professors, instead of
teaching bright students,

join

start 1 companies, anc.

discover that their brightest

students have preceded them.
Computer science is in the
limelight, especially those aspects,
such as systems, languages, and

machine architecture, that may
have immediate commercial appli¬
cations. The attention is flattering,
but it can work to the detriment of
good research.

120 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

us whether the system could be
revived.)

AT&T divested its telephone
operating companies at the be¬
ginning of 1984. There has been
considerable public speculation
about what this will mean for
fundamental research at Bell

UNICOMP
Technical Type

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• UNIX*, Troff, Wizard

• Compugraphic 8400 Typesetter

• Quality appearance of books,
proceedings, newsletters.

• Specializing in
technical documents.

• Documents accepted via
magnetic tape,

phone lines, or paper.

• For information, samples,
or estimates, call

505/662-EDIT (3348)

1580 Camino Redondo
Los Alamos, NM 87544

•Unix is a trademark of Bell Laboratories

Circle No. 73 on Inquiry Card
120 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

Fundamental research at Bell
Labs in physics, chemistry, and
mathematics may, indeed, not be
threatened; nevertheless, the
danger it might face, and the case
against which it must be prepared

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Representing
E0E Companies

•UNIX is a trademark of Bell Labs

Circle No. 74 on Inquiry Card

to argue, is that of irrelevance to
the goals of the company. Com¬
puter science research is different
from these more traditional
disciplines. Philosophically it
differs from the physical sciences
because it seeks not to discover,
explain, or exploit the natural
world, but instead to study the
properties of machines of human
creation. In this it is analogous to
mathematics, and indeed the
“science” part of computer
science is, for the most part,
mathematical in spirit. But an
inevitable aspect of computer
science is the creation of computer
programs: objects that, though
intangible, are subject to commer¬
cial exchange.

More than anything else, the
greatest danger to good computer
science research today may be
excessive relevance. Evidence for
the worldwide fascination with
computers is everywhere, from
the articles on the financial, and
even the front pages of the news¬
papers, to the difficulties that even
the most prestigious universities
experience in finding and keeping
faculty in computer science. The
best professors, instead of
teaching bright students, join
start-up companies, and often
discover that their brightest
students have preceded them.
Computer science is in the
limelight, especially those aspects,
such as systems, languages, and
machine architecture, that may
have immediate commercial appli¬
cations. The attention is flattering,
but it can work to the detriment of
good research.

...enough said.

See us at:
UniForum
Dallas

Jan. 21 to 25
Booth 2959

Fulcrum Technologies Inc.
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UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985 119

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RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

becomes known at all. In industry,
a natural impulse of the establish¬
ment is to guard proprietary infor¬
mation. Researchers understand
reasonable restrictions on what
and when they publish, but many
will become irritated and flee
elsewhere, or start working in less
delicate areas, if prevented from
communicating their discoveries
and inventions in suitable fashion.
Research management at Bell Labs
has traditionally been sensitive to
maintaining a careful balance be¬
tween company interest and the
industrial equivalent of academic
freedom. The entrance of AT&T
into the computer industry will
test, and perhaps strain, this
balance.

Another danger is that com¬
mercial pressure of one sort or
another will divert the attention of
the best thinkers from real innova¬
tion to exploitation of the current
fad, from prospecting to mining a
known lode. These pressures mani¬
fest themselves not only in
the disappearance of faculty into
industry, but also in the con¬
servatism that overtakes those
with well-paying investments —
intellectual or financial — in a
given idea. Perhaps this effect
explains why so few interesting
software systems have come from
the large computer companies:
they are locked into the existing
world. Even IBM, which supports
a well-regarded and productive
research establishment, has in
recent years produced little to
cause even a minor revolution in
the way people think about
computers. The working ex¬
amples of important new systems
seem to have come either from
entrepreneurial efforts (VisiCalc is
a good example) or from large
companies, like Bell Labs and
most especially Xerox, that were
much involved with computers
and could afford research into
them, but did not regard them as
their primary business.

On the other hand, in smaller
companies, even the most
vigorous research support is
highly dependent on market con¬
ditions. The New York Times , in
an article describing Alan Kay s
passage from Atari to Apple, notes
the problem: “Mr. Kay...said that
Atari’s laboratories had lost some
of the atmosphere of innovation
that once attracted some of the
finest talent in the industry.
“When I left last month it was
clear that they would be putting
their efforts in the short term,”
he said...“I guess the tree of
research must from time to time
be refreshed with the blood of
bean counters.”[9]

Partly because they are new
and still immature, and partly
because they are a creation of the
intellect, the arts and sciences
of software abridge the chain,
usually in physics and engineer¬
ing, between fundamental dis¬
coveries, advanced development,
and application. The inventors of
ideas about how software should
work usually find it necessary to
build demonstration systems. For
large systems, and for revolu¬
tionary ideas, much time is
required. It can be said that UNIX
was written in the 70s to distill
the best systems ideas of the ’60s,
and became the commonplace of
the ’80s. The work at Xerox PARC
on personal computers, bitmap
graphics, and programming en¬
vironments [10] shows a similar
progression, starting and coming
to fruition a few years later.
Time, and a commitment to the
long-term value of the research,
are needed on the part of both
the researchers and their
management.

Bell Labs has provided this
commitment and more: a rare
and uniquely stimulating research
environment for my colleagues
and me. As it enters what com¬
pany publications call “the new
competitive era”, its managers

and workers will do well to
keep in mind how, and under
what conditions, the UNIX system
succeeded. If we can keep alive
enough openness to new ideas,
enough freedom of communica¬
tion, enough patience to allow
the novel to prosper, it will remain
possible for a future Ken Thomp¬
son to find a little-used CRAY/I
computer and fashion a system as
creative, and as influential, as
UNIX.

REFERENCES

1. Bell Labs: New order augurs well.
Nature 305 , 5933 (Sept. 29, 1983).

2. Bell Labs on the brink. Science 221
(Sept. 23, 1983).

3. Lesk, M.E. User-activated BTL direc¬
tory assistance. Bell Laboratories inter¬
nal memorandum (1972).

4. Norman, D.A. The truth about UNIX.
Datamation 27 (1981).

5. Organick, E.I. The Multics System MIT
Press Cambridge, M.A. (1972)

6. Ritchie, D. M. UNIX time-sharing
system: A Restrospective. Bell Syst.
Tech. J. 57.6 (1978) (1947-1969.

7. Ritchie, D. M. The Evolution of the
UNIX time-sharing system. In Language
Design and Programming Methodology,
Jeffrey M. Tobias, Ed. Springer-Verlag ,
New York. (1980).

8. Ritchie, D. M. and Thompson, K. The
UNIX time-sharing system. Commun.
ACM 17.7 (July 1974) 365-375.

9. Sanger, D. E. Key Atari scientist swit¬
ches to Apple. The New York Times
133,46,033 (May 3, 1984).

10. Thacker, C. P. et al. Alto, a personal
computer. Xerox PARC Technical Report
CSL-79-11.

11. Thompson, K. UNIX time-sharing
system: UNIX implementation. Bell Syst
Tech J. 57,6 (1978). 1931-1946.

12. Watson, J. D. The Double Helix; A
Personal Account of the Discovery of the
Structure of DNA. Atheneum Publishers ,
New York (1968).

Copyright 1984 by Association
for Computing Machinery, reprinted
with permission of Communications
of the ACM, August 1984, Volume
27, Number 8M

122 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

, 9 79, NN # e ^S e ^'s?° e ^w
c#e n# ^?s e * G * W C °nO^' C c i

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Convergent Technologies

Where great ideas come together.

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

On the other hand, in smaller
companies, even the most
vigorous research support is
highly dependent on market con¬
ditions. The New York Times , in
an article describing Alan Kay’s
passage from Atari to Apple, notes
the problem: “Mr. Kay...said that
Atari’s laboratories had lost some
of the atmosphere of innovation
that once attracted some of the
finest talent in the industry.
“When I left last month it was
clear that they would be putting
their efforts in the short term,”
he said...“I guess the tree of
research must from time to time
be refreshed with the blood of
bean counters.”[9]

Partly because they are new
and still immature, and partly
because they are a creation of the
intellect, the arts and sciences
of software abridge the chain,
usually in physics and engineer¬
ing, between fundamental dis¬
coveries, advanced development,
and application. The inventors of
ideas about how software should
work usually find it necessary to
build demonstration systems. For
large systems, and for revolu¬
tionary ideas, much time is
required. It can be said that UNIX
was written in the ’70s to distill
the best systems ideas of the ’60s,
and became the commonplace of
the ’80s. The work at Xerox PARC
on personal computers, bitmap
graphics, and programming en¬
vironments [10] shows a similar
progression, starting and coming
to fruition a few years later.
Time, and a commitment to the
long-term value of the research,
are needed on the part of both
the researchers and their
management.

REFERENCES

1. Bell Labs: New order augurs well.
Nature 305, 5933 (Sept. 29, 1983).

2. Bell Labs on the brink. Science 221
(Sept. 23, 1983).

3. Lesk, M.E. User-activated BTL direc¬
tory assistance. Bell Laboratories inter¬
nal memorandum (1972).

4. Norman, D.A. The truth about UNIX.
Datamation 27 (1981).

5. Organick, E.I. The Multics System MIT
Press Cambridge, M.A. (1972)

6. Ritchie, D. M. UNIX time-sharing
system: A Restrospective. Bell Syst.
Tech . J. 57.6 (1978) (1947-1969.

7. Ritchie, D. M. The Evolution of the
UNIX time-sharing system. In Language
Design and Programming Methodology,
Jeffrey M. Tobias, Ed. Springer-Verlag ,
New York. (1980).

8. Ritchie, D. M. and Thompson, K. The
UNIX time-sharing system. Commun.
ACM 17.7 (July 1974) 365-375.

9. Sanger, D. E. Key Atari scientist swit¬
ches to Apple. The New York Times
133,46,033 (May 3, 1984).

10. Thacker, C. P. et al. Alto, a personal
computer. Xerox PARC Technical Report
CSL-79-11.

11. Thompson, K. UNIX time-sharing
system: UNIX implementation. Bell Syst.
Tech J. 57,6 (1978). 1931-1946.

12. Watson, J. D. The Double Helix; A
Personal Account of the Discovery of the
Structure of DNA. Atheneum Publishers ,
New York (1968).

Copyright 1984 by Association
for Computing Machinery, reprinted
with permission of Communications
of the ACM, August 1984, Volume
27, Number 8.1

122 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

East.. Versatile
...Powerful Tools

Integrated Productivity Tools from South Wind
Software provide today’s professional with fast,
versatile tools to organize, manipulate and
display information with clarity and
effectiveness.

TACTICIAN is an enhanced 1024 x 1024
spreadsheet which interacts with popular
UNIX DBMS ie. UNIFY, INFORMIX and
MICROINGRES.

GRAFSMAN’s panel driven graphic
editor helps create brilliant color graphics

See us at UniForum Booth #3337

Integrated Productivity Tools, IPT, TACTICIAN, and GRAFSMAN are trademarks of
South Wind Software, Inc, UNIX i$ a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories, UNIFY is a
trademark of the Unify Corporation. INFORMIX is a trademark of Relational Database
Systems, Inc. MICROINGRES is a trademark of Relational Technologies, Inc, XENIX
is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc.

for reports and presentations using data from
TACTICIAN, DBMS, or application files.

Integrated Productivity Tools were designed with
the OEM in mind to allow for quick, easy
incorporation into problem solving applications.
IPT is available today for a wide variety of
UNIX/XENIX based systems.

Call for further information about the fast,
versatile and powerful Integrated Productivity
Tools family.

SOUTHWIND SOFTWARE, INC.

4520 E. 47th St. So.
Wichita, Kansas 67210
316-788-5537
1-800-346-3025 EXT 234

Circle No. 75 on Inquiry Card

Image Network’s XROFF, right now,
prints troff/ditroff documents on:

• VAX

• Pyramid

• Plexus

. PDP 11's

• Integrated Solutions

• Amdahl

• IBM-PC

• 3B20

• System 5

• System III

• Berkeley 4.2
. IS/WB

• V 7
m UTS

rn MS/DOS

• Xenix

• Xerox 2700

• Xerox 8700

• Xerox 9700

• Diablo ink jet

• Diablo thermal

• Dec LNOIs

• Compugraphic 8400

• A PS-5 typesetter

at leading organizations from Berkeley to Murray Hill.

Call or write with your requirements!

Image Network, 770 Mahogany Lane, Sunnyvale CA 94086
(408)746-3754

This ad was set using Xroff on a Xerox 2700 laserprinter Circle No. 80 on Inquiry Card

Circle No. 77 on Inquiry Card

UNIX

PROG RAMMERS

We are a professional software development start-up company look¬
ing for dynamic new product applications developers.

SR. APPUCATIONS ENGINEERS

You will design and develop large sales and marketing applications in
a 68K UNIX* and “C” programming environment. This position
requires knowledge of Unify data base and familiarity with communi¬
cations protocols 2780/3780. A BSCS with 5+ years’ experience in
large sales applications software is required; 3 years’ experience in
UNIX and “C’ r desired.

APPUCATIONS PROGRAMMERS -

You will work with senior designers developing large sales and mar¬
keting applications. It will be your responsibility to code, integrate,
document and test applications programs. A BSCS with 3 years expe¬
rience, with at least 1 year in UNIX and “C” is required. Knowledge of
Berkeley vi-editor and experience with Unify data base is desired.

These professional opportunities require individuals with exceptional
written and verbal communications skills, as well as an expressed
desire to make a formidable contribution as part of a dedicated
start-up team. Qualified applicants should send resumes to Market-
Vision, Attn; D.Wardley, 10381 Bandley Drive,Cupertino, CA 95014. E0E.

MarketVision

"UNIX is a trademark of AT & T Bell Labs

Circle No. 76 on Inquiry Card

FUTURE WORKSTATIONS

Continued from Page 54

analogs for these.

The Interlisp DWIM (Do-What-
I-Mean) feature causes many er¬
rors and incomplete specifications
to be remedied by the system. If
the necessary modification is
trivial and unambiguous in
nature, the repair is performed
silently. This is very different from
the UNIX philosophy of error
handling.

The Interlisp-D and Smalltalk
environments are both notable for
their active use of windows to aid
the programming process. Win¬
dows can be created and removed
trivially, and the user is encourag¬
ed to build new windows to per¬
form specific tasks. No current
UNIX workstation offers the
degree of ease and flexibility to be
found in using windows under
these systems.

IN SUMMARY

Workstations are here to stay.
They vary in detail, but are almost
identical in general characteristics.
A number of forces will cooperate
to increase their numbers.

Packaging, mechanical com¬
ponents, displays, and so forth are
expensive, and will stay expen¬
sive. Processors, memory, and so
forth get cheaper all the time. The
cost of turning a terminal into a
workstation is thus dropping
rapidly.

The nifty new software pro¬
ducts we see emerging are costly
in processing time. A typical
mainframe cannot support large
numbers of drafting packages,
plotting applications, or even
spreadsheets. In any case,
terminals are generally too
bandwidth-limited to do satisfac¬
tory interactive graphics.

Get ready, therefore, to see
workstations replacing terminals
on ever-increasing numbers of
desks. You might even start think¬
ing about where to put yours. ■

124 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

C ENGLISH:

The C Generation Language.

WhatiSCENGUSH?cENGLISH is a comprehensive fourth generation
procedural language based on dBASE II” syntax. It is portable to a
wide range of micros and minis. The language features user-trans¬
parent interfaces to a wide range of popular C compilers, operating
systems, and data base managers.

How is portability achieved? cENGLISH through its compiler inter¬
face translates cENGLISH into documented C source and uses a host
C compiler to produce native machine code.

C source can be embedded in cENGLISH source.

Differences in the operating system and data base manager are
handled by the runtime libraries.

The result is that cENGLISH source can be compiled without modi¬
fication on any micro or mini configuration supporting cENGLISH.

What about performance? cENGLISH executes FAST, just like any
compiled C program.

How easy is CENGUSH to use? While cENGLISH is a powerful high
level language that can accommodate complex software develop¬
ment, it remains simple and straightforward to use.

Call or write for availability of cENGLISH for the following configu-
rations-

Compilers:

Standard O/S compilers: Lattice C” for MS/DOS”

Operating Systems:

UNIXf UNIX-like, MS/DOS/ Coherent; VMS"

Data Base Managers:

C-ISAM" and INFORMIX; UNIFY," ORACLE; PHACT,” Logix"
Foreign Language Versions:

German, French, Spanish

Attention MS/DOS users. Demo version and special introductory offer
available for IBM PC; XT,” AT," and other MS/DOS systems.
Requirements: 256K, hard disk or two floppy disk drives, and
MS/DOS 2.1 or higher.

Attention dBASE II and dBASE III users. dBASE II to cENGLISH
Converter now available; dBASE III Converter available later this
quarter. Converted code is portable to micros or minis and executes
as fast as original cENGLISH source.

SAMPLE CENGUSH PROGRAM

IDENTIFICATIONS
MODULE: Mininame
AUTHOR: bcs
DATE: 8/29/84

REMARKS: Sample cENGLISH program that adds first
names to a file
END IDENTIFICATIONS

GLOBALS

FIXED LENGTH Ians
FIXED LENGTH 15 Fname
END GLOBALS

MAIN PROGRAM
BEGIN

CLEAR SCREEN
SET ECHO OFF

USE "NAMES"

VIEW BY"ID_FNAME" ASCENDING

AT 23,1 SAY "Add a record? Y or N"

AT 23,25 ENTER ans USING"!"

WHILE ansEQ'V
CLEAR GETS

AT 6,1 SAY "Enter first name"

AT 6,20 GET Fname
READ SCREEN

INSERT

Fname = Fname
END INSERT

AT 12,10 SAY "Welcome to cENGLISH," & Fname
WAIT

AT 14,10 SAY "HIT ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"
STORE" "TO Fname

STORE" "TOans

AT 23,1 SAY "Add another record? Y or N"

AT 23,30 ENTER ans USING"!"

CLEAR ROW 1 THRU 23

END WHILE

ATI 2,10 SAY "Thafs all for now!"

UNUSE "NAMES"

SET ECHO ON

END PROGRAM

dBASE II and dBASE III are trademarks of AshtonTate. Lattice is a trademark of Lattice, Inc. UNIX is a trademark ot Bell Laboratories
MS/DOS is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc. Coherent is a trademark of Mark Williams Company. VMS is a trademark of Digital Equipment
Corporation. C-ISAM and INFORMIX are trademarks of Relational Database Systems, Inc. Oracle is a trademark of Oracle Inc. PHACT
is a trademark of Phact Associates. Logix is a trademark oflogica! Software, Inc. IBM PC XT and AT ore trademarks of International
Business Machines Corporation. UNIFY is a trademark of Unify Corp.

Circle No. 78 on Inquiry Card

I'd like to know more about cENGLISH.
Please send further information.

Your Name

Title

Company

Telephone

Address

City

State

Zip

Check one:

□ End User □ System House □ Dealer

□ Distributor

Send to: cLINE lnc y 20 West Ontario. Chicago. IL 60610-3809
Telex 5163(l5 Phone (312) 9444510

In Canada: cLINE Canada, Inc. Complexe La Laurentienne,

“ 65, Quebec, Canada G1R5E4

425 St. Amable.Suite Id
Phone (418) 524-4641

CALENDAR

EVENTS

JANUARY

January 21-25 UniForum, The International Conference
of UNIX Users, Dallas, TX. Contact: UniForum/Professional
Exposition Management Co., 2400 East Devon Avenue, Des
Plaines, IL 60018. 800/323-5155, or in IL, 312/299-3131.
January 29 Silicon Valley Net Monthly Meeting, Palo Alto,
CA. Presentation and discussion sponsored by the UNIX
user group. Contact: SVNet, 5301 Stevens Creek Blvd., San¬
ta Clara, CA 95050.

MARCH

March 30-April 2 10th West Coast Computer Faire, San
Francisco, CA. Contact: Computer Faire, Inc., 181 Wells
Avenue, Newton, MA 02159. 617/965-8350.

APRIL

April 24-26 UNIX Systems Expo/85, San Francisco, CA.
Contact: Computer Faire, Inc. (see above).

TRAINING

JANUARY

January 7 AT&T Technologies, Princeton, NJ: “Shell Com¬
mand Language for Programmers.” Contact: AT&T
Technologies, Corporate Education & Training, PO Box
2000, Hopewell, NJ 08525. 800/221-1647.

January 7 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “Internal
UNIX System Calls and Libraries Using C Programming.”
Contact: AT&T (see January 7).

January 7 AT&T Technologies, Lisle, IL: “UNIX System
V Internals.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).

January 7 NCR Education Seminar, New York, NY: “UNIX
Operating System.” Contact: NCR Customer and Support
Education, 101 W. Schantz Avenue, Dayton, OH 45479.
800/845-CASE, or in OH, 800/841-CASE.

January 7-11 Plum Hall Training, Raleigh, NC: “UNIX
Workshop.” Contact: Plum Hall, 1 Spruce Avenue, Cardiff,
NJ 08232. 609/927-3770.

January 9 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “Fun¬
damentals of the UNIX Operating System for Users.” Con¬
tact: AT&T (see January 7).

January 9-11 CAPE Seminar, Cincinnati, OH: “A User-
Oriented Evaluation Three-Day Seminar: UNIX.” Contact:
Center for Advanced Professional Education, 1820 East
Garry Street, Suite 110, Santa Ana, CA 92705.
714/261-0240.

January 9-11 Digital Seminar Program, Cambridge, MA:
“Comprehensive Overview of the UNIX Operating System.”
Contact: Digital Educational Services, 12 Crosby Drive,
Bedford, MA 01730. 617/276-4949.

January 12 International Technical Seminars, San Fran¬
cisco, CA: “Programming Control Tools” with Bob Toxen;
“4.2 Fast File System Overview” with Kirk McKusick; “4.2
Fast File System Administration” with Kirk McKusick.
Contact: ITS, 520 Waller Street, San Francisco, CA 94117.
415/621-6415.

January 13 International Technical Seminars, San Fran¬
cisco, CA: “Writing termcap Entries” with Doug Merritt;
“Fast Prototyping on UNIX” with Rich Morin and Gene
Dronek; “4.2 Interprocess Communication” with Ken Ar¬
nold; “Using curses Effectively” with Ken Arnold. (See
January 12).

January 14 AT&T Technologies, Princeton, NJ & Sun¬
nyvale, CA: “C Language for Programmers.” Contact:
AT&T (see January 7).

January 14 AT&T Technologies, Lisle, IL & Sunnyvale,
CA: “Fundamentals of the UNIX Operating System for Pro¬
grammers.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).

January 14 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “UNIX
System V Device Drivers.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
January 14 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “UNIX
System V Internals.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
January 14 NCR Education Seminars, Los Angeles, CA
& Houston, TX: “UNIX Operating System.” Contact: NCR
(see January 7).

January 14-16 Computer Technology Group, Chicago, IL:
“UNIX Fundamentals for Programmers.” Contact: CTG,
Telemedia, Inc., 310 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604.
800/323-UNIX, or in IL, 312/987-4082.

January 14-18 Structured Methods Seminar, New York,
NY: “UNIX System Workshop.” Contact: Structured
Methods, 7 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011.
800/221-9274, or in NY, 212/741-7720.

January 15 Computer Technology Group, New York, NY
& Washington, DC: “UNIX Overview.” Contact: CTG (see
January 14-16).

January 16 AT&T Technologies, Lisle, IL: “Shell Com¬
mand Language for Users.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
January 16 Specialized Systems Consultants, Seattle, WA:
“UNIX for Managers.” Contact: SSC, PO Box 7, Northgate
Station, Seattle, WA 98125. 206/FOR-UNIX.

January 16-18 CAPE Seminar, New York, NY: “A User-
Oriented Evaluation Three-Day Seminar: UNIX.” Contact:
CAPE (see January 9-11).

January 16-18 Computer Technology Group, New York,
NY & Washington, DC: “UNIX Fundamentals for Non-
Programmers.” Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).
January 16-18 Digital Seminar Program, Cambridge, MA:
“The C Programming Language Application Develop¬
ment.” Contact: Digital Educational Services (see January
9-11). January 17-18 Computer Technology Group, San
Francisco, CA & Chicago, IL: “Shell as a Command
Language.” Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).

January 17-18 Computer Technology Group, San Diego,
CA: “Developing a UNIX Market Strategy.” Contact: CTG
(see January 14-16).

January 21 AT&T Technologies, Lisle, IL: “C Language
for Programmers.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
January 21 AT&T Technologies, Princeton, NJ: “UNIX
System V Internals.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
January 21 NCR Education Seminar, Houston, TX: “UNIX
System Administration.” Contact: NCR (see January 7).
January 21 NCR Education Seminar, Los Angeles, CA: “C
Programming.” Contact: NCR (see January 7).

January 21-22 Intelligent Solution Seminar, Baltimore,
MD: “UNIX Concepts.” Contact: Intelligent Solution (see
December 10-11).

January 21-23 Computer Technology Group, New York,
NY & Washington, DC: “UNIX Fundamentals for Program¬
mers.” Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).

January 21-25 Bunker Ramo Information Systems, Trum¬
bull, CT: “Introduction to UNIX.” Contact: Bunker Ramo,
Trumbull Industrial Park, Trumbull, CT 06611.
203/386-2223.

January 21-25 Computer Technology Group, Chicago, IL:
“C Language Programming.” Contact: CTG (see January
14-16).

January 21-25 Plum Hall Training, Raleigh, NC: “C Pro¬
gramming Workshop.” Contact: Plum Hall (see January
7-11).

January 21-25 Structured Methods Seminar, New York,
NY: “C Programming Workshop.” Contact: Structured
Methods (see January 14-18).

126 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

SHADCUPwtth

Concentric Associates, Inc. announces a new software product:

Shacc-the shell accelerator-is a compiler for the Bourne shell. It translates Bourne shell
programs into C and then invokes the C compiler to produce an "a.out” file. The C code that
is generated is well-structured and very readable, so it can be further optimized by hand if
you like.

Shacc’d code:

• Is faster than interpreted shell code.

• Is more resistant to piracy.

• Is more space and time efficient-you can make good use of shared text and the sticky bit.
•Will work properly in setuid files.

Shacc allows you to write production code in the Bourne shell: Do the fast prototyping in
shell, make it right, and then shacc it and ship it.

If your shell programming’s not up to speed, call Concentric Associates. Also ask about our
UNIX'" teaching and consulting services.

shacc
By Paul Ruel

Concentric Associates, Inc.

For further details, call or write:

Jim Butz/Concentric Associates, Inc./One Harmon Plaza/Secaucus, NJ 07094/201*866-2880

UNIX™ is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories

See us at-UNIFORUM, Booth 2218.

Circle No. 88 on Inquiry Card

CALENDAR

January 21-25 Structured Methods Seminar, New York,
NY: “Advanced Topics in The C Language.” Contact: Struc¬
tured Methods (see January 14-18).

January 22-25 Integrated Computer Systems Seminar,
Baltimore, MD: “Hands-On UNIX Workshop.” Contact: ICS,
6305 Arizona Place, Los Angeles, CA 90045. 800/421-8166,
or in CA, 800/352-8251.

January 23-24 Intelligent Solution Seminar, Baltimore,
MD: “Programming in C.” Contact: Intelligent Solution (see
December 10-11).

January 23-25 CAPE Seminar, Palo Alto, CA: “A User-
Oriented Evaluation Three-Day Seminar: UNIX.” Contact:
CAPE (see January 9-11).

January 24-25 Computer Technology Group, New York,
NY & Washington, DC: “Shell as a Command Language.”
Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).

January 24-25 Productivity Products International
Seminar, Dallas, TX: “An Introduction to Object-Oriented
Programming with Objective C.” Contact: PPI, 27 Glen
Road, Sandyhook, CT 06482. 203/426-1875.

January 25 Intelligent Solution Seminar, Baltimore, MD:
“UNIX Overview.” Contact: Intelligent Solution (see
December 10-11).

January 28 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “Shell
Command Language for Users.” Contact: AT&T (see
January 7).

January 28 AT&T Technologies, Lisle, IL & Sunnyvale,
CA: “UNIX System Document Preparation Utilities.” Con¬
tact: AT&T (see January 7).

January 28-29 Computer Technology Group, Chicago, IL:
“Shell Programming.” Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).
January 28-29 Software Institute of America, New York,
NY: “UNIX.” Contact: SIA, 8 Windsor Street, Andover, MA
01810. 617/470-3880.

January 28-February 1 Bunker Ramo Information
Systems, Trumbull, CT: “Advanced UNIX.” Contact:
Bunker Ramo (see January 21-25).

January 28-February 1 Computer Technology Group,

Bit Slice Microprogram
Development Facility Operates Under
UNIX*

• bsa.c: Variable word length assembler

• slice.c: Slices object file to PROM size files

• dataio.c: Transmits PROM files to DATA I/O

PROM programmer

• stepify.c: Down loads object file to Step

Engineering PROM emulator

Single CPU source code license $5,000

*UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories

A / A Pacific Computer Sales, Inc.

\ ^ 100 South Cole Road

\/ Boise, Idaho 83709

1 ======== (208) 322-1112= . =

Circle No. 79 on Inquiry Card

New York, NY & Washington, DC: “C Language Program¬
ming.” Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).

January 28-February 1 Digital Seminar Program, Dallas,
TX: “Programming in C.“ Contact: Digital Educational Ser¬
vices (see January 9-11).

January 28-February 1 Plum Hall Training, Raleigh, NC:
“Advanced C Topics Seminar.” Contact: Plum Hall (see
January 7-11).

January 28-February 1 Plum Hall Training, New York,
NY: “C Programming Workshop.” Contact: Plum Hall (see
January 7-11).

January 29-February 1 Integrated Computer Systems
Seminar, Baltimore, MD: “Programming in C: A Hands-On
Workshop.” Contact: ICS (see January 22-25).

January 30 AT&T Technologies, Princeton, NJ: “Fun¬
damentals of the UNIX Operating System for Program¬
mers.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).

January 30-February 1 CAPE Seminar, Honolulu, HI: “A
User-Oriented Evaluation Three-Day Seminar: UNIX.” Con¬
tact: CAPE (see January 9-11).

January 30-February 1 Computer Technology Group,
Chicago, IL: “Using Advanced UNIX Commands.” Contact:
CTG (see January 14-16).

January 31 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “UNIX
System V Screen Editor vi.” Contact: AT&T (see January
7).

FEBRUARY

February 2 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “UNIX
System V Tools.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
February 4 AT&T Technologies, Princeton, NJ: “Software
Development Under the UNIX Operating System.” Contact:
AT&T (see January 7).

February 4 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “Shell
Command Language for Programmers.” Contact: AT&T
(see January 7).

February 4 AT&T Technologies, Princeton, NJ: “UNIX
System V Device Drivers.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
February 4 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “Inter¬
nal UNIX System Calls and Libraries Using C Programm¬
ing.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).

February 4 NCR Education Seminars, Dayton, OH: “UNIX
Operating System.” Contact: NCR (see January 7).
February 4-5 Computer Technology Group, New York, NY
& Washington, DC: “Shell Programming.” Contact: CTG
(see January 14-16).

February 4-5 Intelligent Solution Seminar, Palo Alto, CA:
“UNIX Concepts.” Contact: Intelligent Solution, 849 22nd
Street, Santa Monica, CA 90403. 800/367-0948 or in CA,
213/207-5356.

February 4-8 Bunker Ramo Information Systems, Trum¬
bull, CT: “C Programming.” Contact: Bunker Ramo (see
January 21-25).

February 4-8 Computer Technology Group, Chicago, IL:
“UNIX Internals.” Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).
February 6-7 Intelligent Solution Seminar, Palo Alto, CA:
“Programming in C.” Contact: Intelligent Solution (see
February 4-5).

February 6-8 CAPE Seminar, Minneapolis, MN: “A User-
Oriented Evaluation Three-Day Seminar: UNIX.” Contact:
CAPE (see January 9-11).

February 6-8 Computer Technology Group, New York, NY
& Washington, DC: “Using Advanced UNIX Commands.”
Contact: CTG (see January 14-16).

February 6-8 Specialized Systems Consultants, Seattle,

128 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

Circle No. 81 on Inquiry Card

The multi user data base management system
that puts mainframe power in your micro.

ZIM is a fully integrated fourth generation application
development language that is loaded with these features
and more.

• POST RELATIONAL

— Entity Relationship Model

— Powerful extension of Relational Model

• REPORT WRITER tilmm

— Unlimited break levels, summary/ rV Wj : >

detail reports, output to disk, / /

printer, terminals / /

• FORMS PAINTER AND MANAGER 'rhelnft

— Menus, data entry, data display

— Box fields
— Old field value recall

• DATA DICTIONARY

• COMPILER • PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

• APPLICATION COMPLEXITY SUBJECT
ONLY TO HARDWARE LIMITATIONS

• UNLIMITED FILE RELATIONS

— One to one

— One to many

— Many to many

— Unrelated

ijjj

n -Jf H

’/ 41J

The Information Interface

• RETRIEVAL STRATEGY OPTIMIZER
— Automatic use of 8087 chip (if available)
• APPLICATIONS PORTABILITY
• MULTI-USER
— Full transaction processing control
• C LANGUAGE INTERFACE
• QUALITY PRODUCT SUPPORT

Zim is a mainframe data base
\ management system that runs on

micro-computers. If you want
‘ u “‘ mainframe power, speed, flexibility and

ace freedom from arbitrary ///AXV,
limitations all at
a micro price, talk to
us about an evaluation system.

Dealer inquiries are welcome.

ZANTHE

INFORMATION INC

1785 Woodward Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K2C 0R1
(613)727 1397

1111

Jili it M . 1

n ;« ■ 1111

MJ U I I ' 4 i

Jt’lll ■■

W CALENDAR

WA: “Hands-On UNIX for Managers.” Contact: SSC (see
January 16).

February 8 Intelligent Solution Seminar, Palo Alto, CA:
“UNIX Overview.” Contact: Intelligent Solution (see
February 4-5).

February 11 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “C
Language for Programmers.” Contact: AT&T (see January
7).

February 11 AT&T Technologies, Lisle, IL: “Fundamen¬
tals of the UNIX Operating System for Programmers.” Con¬
tact: AT&T (see January 7).

February 11 AT&T Technologies, Sunnyvale, CA: “UNIX
System V Internals.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
February 11 AT&T Technologies, Dublin, OH: “UNIX
System V Administration.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
February 11 NCR Education Seminars, Dayton, OH:
“UNIX System Administration.” Contact: NCR (see
January 7).

February 11-15 Bunker Ramo Information Systems,
Trumbull, CT: “Advanced C Programming.” Contact:
Bunker Ramo (see January 21-25).

February 11-15 Computer Technology Group, New York,
NY & Washington, DC: “UNIX Internals.” Contact: CTG
(see January 14-16).

February 11-15 Digital Seminar Program, Bedford, MA:
“UNIX and ULTRIX Utilities and Commands.” Contact:
Digital Educational Services (see January 9-11).
February 11-15 Digital Seminar Program, Landover, MD:
“Programming in C.” Contact: Digital Educational Services
(see January 9-11).

February 11-15 Structured Methods Seminar, New York,
NY: “UNIX System Workshop.” Contact: Structured
Methods (see January 14-18).

February 12-14 Computer Technology Group, Chicago,
IL: “UNIX Administration.” Contact: CTG (see January
14-16).

February 13 AT&T Technologies, Lisle, IL: “UNIX System
V Screen Editor vi.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).
February 13 AT&T Technologies, Princeton, NJ: “Over¬
view of the UNIX System.” Contact: AT&T (see January 7).

Please send announcements about training or events
of interest to: UNIX Review Calendar 520 Waller Street San
Francisco, CA 94117.

Electronic mail can be sent to ucbvaxlolym-
puslitsldave. Please include sponsor, date and location of
event, address of contact and relevant background
information.

UNIX™

OPPORTUNITIES

CAMBRIDGE-BOSTON
RT. 128

“The secret of getting ahead is...
Getting Started” — Mark Twain.

(EQUITY)

Start-Up and established
organizations are offering
chance of a lifetime —
Professional — Financial —
Personal Growth opportunities

• Call (617) 848-5188 •"

Jim Barry

To discuss your goals or
send your resume

ADVANCED ERGONOMIC
MANAGEMENT

Software & Engineering
Personnel Consultants
872 Massachusetts Ave.
Suite 1-3

Cambridge, Ma 02139

Circle No. 84 on Inquiry Card

RELIABLE

AppwacH /

MCBA™ Software Available
on Microcomputers

• NCR Tower 1612 • Codata 3300

• Plexus P/<aH>

• General Ledger • Payroll

• Receivables • Payables

• Order Processing • Purchase Orders

• Inventory • Bill of Materials

fbi BuSiM6£

H RELIABLE

DATA SYSTEMS

Full Function Full Feature

Fully Integrated

• RM Cobol

• Source Code Available to Dealers
• Multi-User and Shared Files
• Multi-Company Data Bases
• Many run standalone
• Add others as needed
♦ Field Proven
• Full Documentation

900 San Antonio Road
Los Altos, CA 94022 (415) 949-3600
Dealer Inquiries Welcome

MCBA is a registered trademark of
Mint Computer Business Applications, Inc.

UNIX

JOBS

REGISTRY

National registry of candi¬
dates and jobs in the Unix
field. Please give us a call;
send a resume; or request a
free Resume Workbook &
Career Planner. We are a
professional employment
firm managed by graduate
engineers.

800 - 231-5920

P.O. Box 19949, Dept. UR
Houston, TX 77224
713-496-6100

See us at UniForum Booth #1679

Circle No. 83 on Inquiry Card

‘Unix is a trademark of Sell Labs

^ • — . --- . - -

See us at UniForum Booth #2199

Circle No. 82 on Inquiry Card

130 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

Circle No. 85 on

we delivered!

There aren't that many trade shows specifically dealing with UNIX, just enough to be confusing. UNIX EXPO ... the
New York Show ... is the one that delivered. Delivered the right audience in the right numbers. Numbers so right
that many of last year's exhibitors have already doubled the size of their exhibit space for the upcoming show.

UNIX EXPO will continue to deliver. We have a new location in the heart of New York City's business district, an ex¬
panded conference program, a proven track record, more exhibit space ... and the trade show savvy to produce an
audience that comes to talk business.

If you sell to any segment of the UNIX environment, make certain that you exhibit in the show with the right stuff .
Call Bob Birkfeld or Don Berey today for the complete story. You won't be disappointed. That's a promise!

September 18. 19, 20, 1985 • New' York. N.Y.

THE UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM EXPOSITION & CONFERENCE

Produced & Managed by National Expositions Co., Inc..

14 West 40th Street • New York, NY 10018 • Telephone: 212/391*9111 • Telex: 135401 DIMCOMM
UNIX * 11 is a registered trademark of Bell Labs UNIX EXPO is not affiliated with Bell Labs

ADVERTISER'S INDEX

Access Methods Inc.. ... 92

Advanced Ergonomics Management .130

AGS Computers.65

Aim Technology.83

Amcom.102

Applix. 9

Arete. • 100, 101

AT&T Technologies 51

B.A.S.I.S.109

Beach Software. 104

Ceegen. 89

Century Software. 96

cLine.125

CMI.55

Codata . 63

Computer Cognition.83

Computer Corp. of America.99

Computer Faire .61

Computer Methods.11

Computer Technology Group. 49

Concentric Associates ... 127

Convergent Technologies. .66, 67, 121

COSI.35

Creare .. 98

Cromemco .84, 85

Data Kinetics, Ltd. . 124

Daystrom. 92

Dual Systems Control.37

ELXSI.Cover III

Emerald City, Inc.21

European UNIX User Show 111

Faircom .74

Fulcrum Technologies . .... 117, 119

Gould. 81, 108

Handle Corp...15

Honeywell.29

IBC.Cover IV

Image Network. 10, 124

Intelligent Solutions.86

Interactive.115

ITS. 91

J. Rogers Associates..

Lachman Associates.

Logical Software.

Mark Williams Co.

MCBA.

Microware Systems.

MIPS Software.

N.M. Prodata.

National Trade Productions

Onyx Systems Inc.

Pacific Computer Sales Inc.

Perennial Software.

Perkin-Elmer.

Quadratron Systems Inc. . .
Quality Software Products

Radio Shack.

Relational Database Systems Inc

Reliable Data Systems.

Rhodnius ..

Scientific Placement Inc. , .

SIR Inc.

Softrak.

SoftFaire ’85.

Southwind Corp.

Sperry Corp.

Tartan Laboratories.

Technical Systems Consultants .

Teletype Corp. ..

Telos Consulting Services

Text ware.

Touchstone .

Uniform Software Systems .

UniForum.

Unify .

Uni press Software.

University of Toronto.

User Training Corp.

UX Software.

Wicat .

Zanthe .

Z-Systems.

.120

.107

.36

.17

.105

. 23

.89

.102

.106

.124

.128

.112

.39

.113

.90

.43

.5, 6. 7

.130

.116

.130

.41

.27

.78

.123

.87

.13

. 93

.103

.118

.110

.95

.90

.97

.Cover II, 1

69, 71, 73, 75. 77, 79

.16

.48

.25

.45

.129

.1 18

COMING UP IN FEBRUARY

• Portability Defined

• How UNIX Portability Evolved

• Marketing Angles

• C Portability

• Moving Applications: Portability
Put to the Test

• Legal Hurdles

BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE

June/July 1983.□

August/September 1983.□

October/November I983.□

December/January 1984.□

February/March 1984.□

April/May 1984.□

June 1984.□

July 1984.□

August 1984.□

September 1984. □

October 1984.□

November 1984.□

December 1984.□

All back issues are $4.95, including postage and
handling. Enclose payment or credit card
information or call 206/271-9605.

Name_

Company _

Address__

City _State _Zip _

M/C or VISA_

Exp. Date _

132 UNIX REVIEW JANUARY 1985

UNIX

MULTIPROCESSOR
PERFORMANCE AND
EXPANDABILITY
IN ONE BOX

NOW

ELXSI System 6400 has a true native port of UNIX System V, not an emulation. With a unique combination
of Berkeley enhancements. Virtual memory. Super fast I/O. Ethernet with TCP/IP. Plus the largest physical memory
in the business. ELXSI System 6400 will run either UNIX or our proprietary, message-based EMBOS operating system.

Or both, concurrently.

ELXSI System 6400: The first true multiprocessor UNIX system. Up to 5 CPU’s operating at 20 MIPS in a single
cabinet, through the ELXSI Gigabus—our 320 mByte/second, 64-bit wide system bus that can accommodate further
expansion up to 10 CPU’s and 40 MIPS of computing power. More power for more system users, expandable
as your needs grow, with the highest power to footprint ratio in the business.

ELXSI System 6400. No one can match our performance or our expandability, deliverable now.
Contact ELXSI today for complete information. Sales offices in most m

ETXSI

Circle No. 86 on Inquiry Card

ELXSI, 2334 Lundy Place, San Jose, California 95131.
408/942-1111, Telex 172-320.

See us at UniForum Booth # 3036

UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. Ethernet is a trademark
of Xerox Corporation. Gigabus and EMBOS are trademarks of ELXSI.

UNIX HORSEPOWER!

There are a lot of UNIX based systems on the market today
claiming to be "SUPERMICROS". But do they really have
what it takes to run multi-user UNIX well? The IBC ENSIGN™
does and here's why:

FAST MEMORY: No computer running at any clock speed
can run faster than it's overall memory design. The ENSIGN
has up to 8MB of 120nsec memory with dual bit error
correction. With IBC's proprietary memory management,
all of this memory runs with no wait states as fast as the
68000 CPU will go. Compare this to other systems running
only small cache memories at full speed. Other multiple
user systems cannot load all their programs into a small
cache memory. Their systems slow down considerably
under a heavy multi-user load.

INTELLIGENT SERIAL I/O CONTROLLER: Even the fastest CPU
will slow down when it's trying to handle interruptions from
multiple on-line users. The ENSIGN provides slave serial I/O
CPU's and FIFO buffering for both input and output. The
result is the ENSIGN'S ability to support up to 32 users, with
heavy serial I/O demand, while leaving the main 68000
CPU free to run with little serial I/O overhead.

INTELLIGENT DISK CONTROLLER AND HIGH PERFORMANCE
DISK DRIVES: The ENSIGN has a slave CPU to handle all disk
operations, plus 16K of disk buffering. IBC's proprietary disk
DMA allows high speed data transfer to main memory
without slowing down the main CPU. Further, the ENSIGN

supports SMD type 8" hard disks with much faster seek
times and transfer rates than 5'A" hard disks usuallyfound
in personal desk top computers.

THE RESULTS: The IBC ENSIGN runs multi-user UNIX at
performance levels not attainable by other supermicros.

Call IBC and get a copy of
IBC's multi-user bench¬
marks—benchmarks that
test 8 users running large CPU
programs, with heavy disk
I/O and heavy serial I/O
simultaneously. You'll find
that nothing can compare t<

If you want to run multi-user UNIX on a high performance
system with up to 32 users, 8MB memory, and over 1,000MB
disk storage, see the IBC ENSIGN.

XflC/lntegraled Business Computers

21621 Nordhoff Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311
(818)882-9007
Telex No. 215349

UNIX ts a trademark of Bell Laboratories Circle IMo. 87 on Inquiry Card

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